Anyone who grew up in the Riverside/Lyons/Brookfield area in the 1970s and 1980s (well, for many decades earlier, too, but that’s when I remember it) had fond memories of the Mill Bridge Roller Rink, which stood at 8027 Ogden Ave. in Lyons — on the south side of Ogden Avenue, about where the Riverwalk condos are.
The rink, built in 1925, closed down in 1992. It remained vacant and decaying until May 9, 1993, when the roller rink went up in flames. The fire started at about 9:30 p.m., according to the Landmark published on May 22, 1993, and it took firefighters from 14 different communities more than two hours to extinguish the blaze.
The rink’s old neon sign survived and was displayed in the Lyons Historical Museum inside the Hofmann Tower for several years, but the state closed the tower museum due to safety concerns in 2008, according to a 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune.
