The fanfare at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new outdoor ice rink at Norris was intense. There were appearances by President Morton Schapiro and Willie the Wildcat, blasting music, free hot chocolate and students watching their peers stumble, bumble or gracefully glide across the fresh ice. Although the ice rink was originally scheduled to open last Tuesday, inclement weather delayed the grand opening of the rink until the following Friday night. Perhaps for the first time in history, Northwestern students actually wished for colder weather.
But the seemingly historic unveiling of the outdoor ice rink was far from momentous. But the Norris ice rink is only one of a series of outdoor rinks that date back to the late 19th century — all of which played integral roles in shaping the social and athletic winter culture at Northwestern.
Early Northwestern periodicals like The Vidette and The Tripod made numerous references to the popularity of an outdoor ice rink on the corner of Benson Avenue and Clark Street. Around the turn of the century, a reporter wrote in The Northwestern newspaper, “The ice rink is always in excellent condition and, judging from the number in attendance, the love of this most healthful sport has in no way lost its hold upon Evanston young people.” An 1913 advertisement mentioned a different local ice rink, the University Rink, located at the corner of Orrington and Emerson Avenues.
By the 1960s, however, the capital of skating at Northwestern had shifted north. Built in 1961 and completed in 1962, the Byron S. Coon Sports Center featured the largest outdoor ice rink in Northwestern’s history — and the only artificial ice rink in Evanston at the time. During the winter, the university floored over four of the newly constructed tennis courts and constructed a rink on top.
The rink hosted races, figure skating lessons, phys-ed classes, intramural hockey and the Skokie Valley Skating Club, which eventually helped to form the Northwestern Skating Club. Students, faculty and children flocked to the outdoor rink, just north of then-Dyche Stadium (now renamed Ryan Field) at the current location of the Nicolet Football Center and Trienens Hall.
Interest in the outdoor rink waned, and no reference to an outdoor rink before Norris’ rink can be found after 1974. But the Norris Ice Rink, just like its predecessors, has proven to be a popular source of winter recreation for undergraduates, children and faculty at Northwestern alike, albeit on a much smaller scale than the grand proportions of the Coon Sports Center Ice Rink.
Weinberg freshman Sarah Beck visited the rink with a group of friends, and after finally conquering the ice without the aid of sideboards or a zamboni to smooth the surface, praised the new rink. “It’s so easy to access, and actually a lot of fun to do with friends, especially since rental skates are only available in the early evenings when not much else is going on,” she said.
Another Weinberg freshman, Omar Hassan, mirrored Beck’s positive review of the rink, but voiced tentative anxiety as well. “I thought the rink was really fun, but I’m a little concerned about how hygienic skate renting is,” he said. “Norris really isn’t in that business and [the skates] can’t be that clean.”
Students’ motivation to brave the Evanston cold and strap on a pair of skates has changed over the years. In the 1870s, skating provided an opportunity for young coeds to meet, with the ice rink providing a socially acceptable haven where youthful paramours could interact.
The Tripod warned, “Skating is a beautiful and delightful exercise, especially on a beautiful moonlight night, but when a couple ‘crack the Sabbath’ by lingering on the pond till the wee small hours of the morning, we are reminded of the words of the poet, ‘Be temperate in all things.’” It was a display of the moral climate at the time. Just a few years later, around 1880, The Vidette wrote, “Many broken hearts and heads are being carried from the skating rink.”
It is unlikely that when Schapiro pressed for construction of the outdoor rink at Norris, he wanted it to serve as an alternative to the sweaty basements of fraternities as a meeting ground for undergrads to find their next hookup. Nevertheless, Norris’ outdoor ice rink offers a romantically picturesque view of Lake Michigan, and is one of the most charming and conveniently located outdoor ice rinks in the Chicago area.
In 1913, the cost of skate rental was 15 cents. Now, skate rental is $3 for students, $5 for faculty and staff and $7 for visitors. The entertainment that observers receive from watching figure skaters glide on the ice while their clumsy peers struggle, however, is priceless.
Until the rink is deconstructed in February, students can continue to imitate more than a century of Northwestern students by braving the Chicago cold and Lake Michigan wind. In a campus where amorous relationships tend to spring up in the debauchery of frats or the confines of coffee houses, maybe Norris’ new outdoor rink can provide a new location for modern Northwestern students, like their 19th century peers, to even meet a new romantic conquest.