MACARTHUR, WV (LOOTPRESS) – For years, whispers of the imminent demolition of Raleigh County landmark, MacArthur Skating Rink, have passed along the lips of locals and out-of-towners alike.
Such rumors have been dispelled and reestablished time and time again, but the structure has nonetheless remained standing in the face of it all. Now, the day which has been anticipated in some capacity by most everyone in the know is finally upon us: MacArthur Skating Rink is no more.
The structure was erected in 1952, and for many years served as a local hotspot for social activity. Unsurprisingly, the advent of technology and the general passage of time rendered the establishment borderline obsolete, much to the chagrin of those with a special place in their hearts for the memories made there – more on that here.
The already struggling establishment took a significant blow to business in the wake of the pandemic in 2020, and as 2021 counted down its final days the following year, so too did the MacArthur Skating Rink. Its doors closed in an official capacity on December 29, 2021 per a dissolution request which was approved by the WV Secretary of State.
Since the shutdown of business, rumors of the building’s demolition have been nearly perpetual. Entire articles detailing plans for the building’s destruction – and some even detailing its destruction as though it had already occurred – have seen publication over the past year.
Such was the case that the frequency with which these “revelations” were being unearthed then promptly debunked rendered them more or less inane, and that certainly was the position of this writer upon learning of the most recent batch of gossip pertaining to the location.
However, a brief commute down Robert C. Byrd Drive confirmed what some thought would never be. Where once recently stood a monument to times past in a ghost town of a parking lot can be seen rolling hills of rubble, copious construction equipment and vehicles, and steel beams manipulated into pretzel-shaped harbingers of the passage of time itself.
One Bob Dylan lyric from The Basement Tapes comes to mind, which reads, “‘take care of all of your memories’ said Nick, for you cannot relive them.”
Indeed, it is often the case that our most treasured memories exist only within our hearts and minds, and such can now be said for those of this beloved establishment. A monument to memories has fallen: MacArthur Skating Rink is no more.