Who Invented Roller Skates?

No one really knows who invented roller skates or even when they first used.  They were probably invented by ice skaters in Europe, some 200 years ago, who wanted to skate when there was no ice.

Roller skating is the popular sports of skating on wheeled skates.  People were roller skating on the roads of Holland and Belgium  about 200 years ago. 

Some early skates had several wheels in a line like the blade of an ice skate.  Others had only two wheels.

In 1862, a man named John L. Plympton of Boston invented the four-wheel skate, much like those we skate on today.  These skates made roller skating widely popular.

The first skates had wooden wheels which broke easily.  The next development was the introduction of all-metal skates with ball bearings in the wheels to make them turn faster.  This completed the skate as we know it today.

Skating to music at indoor rinks is a year-round sport followed by many thousands of skating enthusiasts.–Dick Rogers