KLASEY: Kankakee’s ‘Champion Boy Skater’

Advertised as “Champion Boy Skater of the World, Only 9 Years of Age,” (although he was actually 13), Fred D. Martin was an entertainment sensation at skating rinks across the Midwest in the mid-1880s.

Martin, like many Kankakee youngsters and young adults, was attracted to the new indoor activity of roller skating. One of the earliest and most popular Kankakee rinks was the Bon Ami (French for “Good Friend”), located on the second floor of the Bachant Implement Company building on South West Avenue. When the Bon Ami opened its doors on Nov. 7, 1884, the Kankakee Weekly Gazette reported, “Over 200 of the best people of the city were present. … The room was crowded with many skaters gliding gracefully about to the strains of the band. The seats and standing room were filled with lookers-on, ready to applaud a neat bit of skating or the unlucky fall of the novice.”

Local historian Harold W. Simmons, writing in the Kankakee Daily Journal on Sept. 8, 1957, devoted his weekly Up ‘til Now column to the exploits of the “champion boy skater.” He wrote, “It was at the Bon Ami Rink that Fred Martin blossomed out as an expert. He was by all odds not only the best skater in Kankakee, but he readily acquired most of the fancy movements of the professional skaters. The idea of going out on the road came to him when on the occasion of the visit of A.F. Smith, the champion, he discovered that he could follow Smith through many of his figures. He was encouraged to advertise himself as an expert, and Smith gave him a few lessons and took him to the Casino — Chicago’s most fashionable rink — where he gave an exhibition.”

Simmons reported that, “For two winters, Fred toured through Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, skating in towns as large as Springfield, Indianapolis and Milwaukee. … He made as high as $40 a night and has now at least a dozen gold and silver medals which he won in contests. Fred traveled alone, being a self-reliant young man, and had all sorts of fun. His second season was under the management of [Kankakee cigarmaker and political leader] Ben Alpiner.”

The young entertainer’s appearances featured a variety of costumes and routines, noted Simmons, “He had several costumes adapted to the various acts in which he appeared, one being a clown suit for his funny business and another, a dress suit with silk hat and cane. He had several pairs of freak skates, one with a single roller in the center, another with rollers under the toes only, and another on stilts 30 inches high. He did the grapevine and other intricate twists, and the bottle act, which consisted of arranging a dozen beer bottles after the manner of ten pins and skating in and out between them, lighting an alcohol torch in the mouth of each bottle. He had to cut out the bottle act at Dwight which was a temperance town where no alcohol could be procured.”

While the entertainment career of the “champion boy skater” was short-lived, roller skating continued to be a popular activity in Kankakee for many years. The Bon Ami Rink soon had competition from White’s Rink, located in the Swannell Building at Schuyler Avenue and Court Street. The two venues vied for customers with a number of promotional events, such as masquerade nights, races, and exhibitions by “fancy performers,” such as Fred Martin.

Through the years the Kankakee area has seen a number of rinks come and go as interest in the pastime waxed and waned. In the early 1900s, the popular rink was in the old National Guard Armory on Court Street, across from the Kankakee County Courthouse. From the 1920s through the late 1940s, skaters flocked to Radeke’s Hall, on the third floor of the Radeke Brewery office at Dearborn Avenue and River Street. In its later years, it was advertised as the Palace Roller Rink. The last roller rink in the community was The Skating Place on Mulligan Drive in Bradley. It opened in 1978 and closed in 2000.

After his short but exciting stint as a roller rink entertainer, Martin embarked upon a career as a Kankakee businessman. In 1902, he partnered with Algy Moore to open a drugstore on the south side of Court Street, midway between Schuyler and Dearborn avenues. Two years later, the Kankakee Gazette commented, “Probably a large majority of the people of Kankakee are not aware of the fact that Fred Martin, the druggist, he of always quiet and gentlemanly manners, was once a public entertainer, and a cracker jack at that.”

The soda fountain of the Martin and Moore drugstore was a popular meeting place for downtown workers and shoppers. The partnership later dissolved, and Martin opened a new pharmacy on Schuyler Avenue. He later became the druggist at the Kankakee State Hospital, a position he held at the time of his death in 1933. He was 61 years of age.

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