For more than two decades, Bladensburg was the center of roller skating in Prince George’s County.

Located at 4811 Annapolis Rd., just off Kenilworth Avenue, the Bladensburg Arena was a popular roller skating spot for residents of the Route 1 corridor in the 1960s and ’70s.

Run by America On Wheels, once the largest chain of roller rinks on the East Coast, the facility featured a 100-foot by 200-foot rink on the second floor with large interior windows, giving it an airier feel. A bowling alley was on the first floor.

The rink opened in November of 1949, just as the so-called “golden age of roller skating” was kicking off, when World War II veterans helped make it the nation’s top sport.

The Bladensburg Arena became a popular hangout, even hosting the U.S. Amateur Roller Skating Championships in 1958.

But that ended at 6 a.m. on Feb. 16, 1971, when a fire broke out in the building, eventually growing so large that more than 150 firefighters from 20 companies were called to the site, hosing down a neighboring building to keep the fire from spreading.

The building was a total loss, with estimates of $500,000 in damage, which would be more than $3.5 million in today’s dollars.

The Bladensburg Arena never re-opened, just missing the second wave of roller skating’s popularity that included roller derby, the movie “Rollerball” and roller discos.

The skating rink still inspires nostalgia among Baby Boomers, who discuss it on fan sites and a dedicated Facebook page, with many current and former residents lamenting that there is not a skating rink along the Route 1 corridor any more, although the D.C. Rollergirls train in an empty warehouse in nearby Edmonston.

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