Fort Worth’s Iconic Roller Skating Rink Comes Back to Life — Get Ready for the New Silver Wheel

It’s time to unearth your hot pants and dig out your old leg warmers. Silver Wheel is back.

A hangout for generations of roller skaters from its familiar perch at 7628 Corina Drive in White Settlement, Silver Wheel hosted its VIP opening event Friday night.

Having originally opened in 1952, during the heyday of roller skating and “good, clean fun,” the skating rink holds fond memories for many Fort Worth natives. It filled many social hours throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and survived the disco era unvarnished. Silver Wheel made it all the way to 2019 before closing for good.

Now, two families are coming to the rescue, bringing the beloved rink back from the brink. Melony and Dewayne Childress along with Jimmy and Lydia Chandler and their families have invested their own blood, sweat and tears into restoring Silver Wheel.

“They all grew up in White Settlement and didn’t want to see it go away forever,” Kevyn Sloane tells PaperCity Fort Worth. Sloane is the Childress’ daughter and has witnessed Silver Wheel’s journey back. The monumental rehab has been a true family affair.

This writer recalls her own second grade birthday party hosted at Silver Wheel, and just about every other birthday party throughout childhood.

Who’s with me? Do you remember being in awe of those who could skate backward? Or lacing those skates up to your calf? Or skating the beat, round and round and round, the line forming quickly when the limbo pole was brought to the center. “How low can you go? How LOW can you go?”

With generations of memories at stake, consider this fair warning that you might not recognize the new and vastly improved skating rink at first.

Those three layers of disco-era carpeting? Gone. That wall-to-wall brown wood paneling? Gone. Bathroom stalls inked with decades of personal messages and graffiti? Gone. The stains of a million cupcakes and Dixie cups full of Hawaiian Punch? Gone.

But you’ll be happy to learn that the original wooden rink is still installed right where it has been since 1952, ensuring those are the exact same planks that you skated over as a kid, only completely refinished. Plus, the shimmering disco ball still commands pride of place right over center rink, ready for the dreaded “couples skate” to commence.

Should you hold hands, or just skate side by side? The choice is still yours.

“They’ve been working round the clock to bring it back to life and have hardly sub-contracted any labor to make it happen, doing all the updates themselves,” Sloane says.

The party room remains right where you left it, though now freshly painted, and the music has finally made its way into the digital age.

“When we upgraded the sound system, we found tons of old mix tapes,” Sloane says. “All the music was still on cassette.”

Here’s hoping Silver Wheel’s digital music includes a little “Xanadu,” “Get Down Tonight” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” for starters. For hours and party pricing, check out Silver Wheels new website. Or just roll on over.