The Indiana City Where Roller Skating Was the King of Recreation

Roller skating was a phenomenon in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially before the advent of the car. Enthusiasts even roller skated on boats, as in this illustration. Public Domain

Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate government’s seat during the Civil War might be the most famous city with that name. But surrounded by corn and soybean fields in the flatlands of Eastern Indiana and about 50 miles from Dayton, Ohio, lies the lesser-known Richmond, Indiana. It can boast having the most inventive or brave people born or bred there.

The Wright brothers lived in downtown Richmond from 1881 to 1884. The inventor of the artificial heart valve, Dr. Charles A. Hufnagel (1916–1989), was raised there, and Levi Coffin, active in the Underground Railroad, operated businesses and a farm there. Another of Richmond’s well-known residents was inventor Micajah C. Henley (1856–1927).

A quintessential midwestern town, Richmond, Ind., was the birthplace and home of Micajah C. Henley, a roller skate manufacturing guru. Public Domain

The Roller Skate King

The invention—or advancements on an invention—for which Henley is most known is the roller skate.

Henley held multiple U.S. patents in his lifetime. They included everything from “Tension Device for Making Wire Fencing” to an “Improved Lawn Mower.” Many of his patents involved the roller skate. Although the Massachusetts-based inventor James Plimpton was credited with inventing the four-wheel roller skate in 1863, Henley began making improvements to it when Plimpton’s patent expired. Henley earned his first roller skate patent in 1880. He developed skates with lighter wheels and a toe clamp.

Henley’s roller skate-making business grew from a being housed in barn behind his family home to a nearby factory. Because of Henley’s efforts, “the making of roller skates became big business in Richmond in the 1880s,” according to Wane County, Indiana-based nonprofit WayNet.

“He built the first rink in Richmond and named it The Coliseum,” said Kerry J. Cottongim George, collection manager and lead curator for the Wayne County Historical Museum. “Out of that, Henley created the sport of Roller Polo. Teams traveled all around Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio for tournaments. At one point in the early 20th century, Roller Polo was more popular than basketball in Indiana.”

Henley also built a roller-skating rink on the second floor of his home.

An Exhibit at the Wayne County Historical Museum

Roller skate technology advanced, and by 1939 when this picture was taken, skates were still popular and affordable around the world. Public Domain

An exhibit at the Wayne County Historical Museum in the tree-lined  Richmond historic district shares Micajah C. Henley’s contributions to roller skating. The home where Henley was born, lived with his parents, and began inventing is within walking or bicycling distance from the museum. So is his factory at 522 N. 16th Street. There, not only roller skates but lawn mowers and bicycles were also made.

Henley died in 1927, just shy of his 71st birthday, in the same home on N. 14th Street where he was raised. He is buried next to his wife in Richmond’s Earlham Cemetery.

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