On January 17, 1914, the C.W. Lowe family opened a portable roller skating rink in Craig Missouri. The rink had a 60 x 120 square foot maple skating floor that could accommodate five hundred skaters with room for nearly three hundred spectators. Canvas sides could be lowered in bad weather. Stoves were provided to warm resting skaters and a Vulitzer organ provided music and ambiance.
Staying only four months in each location to avoid waning enthusiasm, the Lowe's and their rink traveled all over the United States, primarily in the South and Midwest. The Lowe's operated in smaller towns for ease of attracting rural crowds eager for novel entertainment. According to a Kansas newspaper young people "are so crazy over the rollers that they drive, motor or even walk to the Lowe's skating tent."