--"Memories of Roberts" 1994 Calendar. Roberts Woman's Club.
--Jean Fox wrote the following on Roberts Illinois History Group page on 03/09/17.
When we moved to Roberts in 1965 and went up to Wisconsin to see my grandmother who was born and raised here in Roberts, I told her that Roberts was so boring. Her response was, well why don't you go uptown and go roller skating? Ha! The coliseum was a busy place at one time! I did research on the building back in 1993 and gave a program at the Woman's club on the coliseum.
Otto and Emil Seng built the coliseum. When they began construction of the coliseum, school was in session. Rueben Ebert (graduated in 1919, Ida Tornowski's brother) and Claire Sanders Clements (graduated in 1922, daughter of the newspaper editor) told me that during the construction of the coliseum, when the framework was all in place, a big wind storm hit Roberts at noon and the frame collapsed in its entirety. They were in school at the time. The earliest advertisement that I found was from Feb. 29, 1912, "Roller skating at the coliseum every Sat. night."
While the late Emerson Seng's grandfather ran the coliseum, movies, skating and community affairs were held in the coliseum. Emerson said that his grandfather, being very religious, would never hold the dances. Dances came later when the coliseum was sold to Frank Gleason and the Hechts put on the dances.
Emerson said one time his dad was running a movie and the film caught on fire and while burning, dropped down into the crowd.
Louise Arnold remembered taking the horse and buggy uptown to see her first movie. Later she played the background music for the silent movies.
Claire Sanders Clements recalled Sat. afternoon matinees. The picture always ended with "to be continued" leaving the heroine lying tied to the railroad tracks with the train bearing down on her or some worse tragedy- always saved the next week.
Helen Pendergast Coyne stated she never missed a dance except in Lent. She and her sister would make an excuse to go to the drug store for a school supply and stand in front of the coliseum to talk to the boys. There were round dances and square dances. She remembered the coaches coming to the dances to see what ball players were there - they were to be home by 10 pm. She said that Jesse Kuntz and Barney Falleti bands played a lot of the dances.
John Roberts (Ida Tornowski's classmate) drew a map of the inside of the coliseum for me. There was one row of chairs on each side and on stage.(Players would run into people). Pot belly stoves stood in the SW and NE corners of the building. A metal screen was placed around them to protect people from getting burned. He said that several still got branded from the hot screen. It had a hardwood floor - good floor for roller skating. They had to run from the shower room in the school building on Weldon Street (before the gym was built) to practice BB in all kinds of weather (rain, snow, sun) and they never complained. Players called it the cow barn...
Besides roller skating, dances, BB games, 8th grade and HS graduations, school plays, there were traveling shows. Jessie Colton show, managed by J.B. Richardson and his wife, Jessie, traveled throughout Illinois for more than 20 years retiring in 1932. They usually stayed for a week presenting plays. There was a stage show called the Tilton show in the late 30's. They sold candy at 25 cents a box. Each box had a prize (like cracker jacks).
The class of 1929 held their commencement exercise at the coliseum. Since this was when the Great Depression struck the world, their ceremony wasn't like those in the past. There was an absence of all decorations, not even the class motto was displayed. There was no sign of class colors, no flowers, no caps or gowns. They were dressed "richly but plain." Their motto was: "No victory without labor."
Events continued to take place in the coliseum in the early forties. The late Bennie Daro remembered roller skating in 1943 and 1944.
In 1946, the coliseum was sold to Carl Klann of Buckley. He tore it down in May of 1946 and used the lumber to build a house in Buckley.
You will find a lot of news items about the programs in the social columns of the old Roberts paper.
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