Historical Results From The Early Championships Of America

America's earliest figure skating competitions were, to put it mildly, pretty sketchy affairs. At some events, the audience acted as judges, receiving a ballot upon entry. At others, competitors alleged that rivals invited groups of friends to judge, stacking the vote in their favour. In one instance, E.T. Goodrich refused to compete in an event he was invited to participate in unless he was paid an extraordinary sum by the rink hosting it. On another occasion, Callie Curtis disguised himself as a woman to win a contest for ladies. Skaters like Curtis and William H. Bishop (who went by the stage name Frank Swift) made very good livings for themselves by "winning" what were probably staged competitions. In 1871, for instance, Curtis "won" a two hundred and fifty dollar prize for defeating Swift. The duo would "compete for a diamond medal" in whatever city with a covered rink that would have them, then skate exhibitions together. 

There are lists floating around there suggesting that Callie Curtis held the American fancy skating title for nearly a decade, but even in the early 20^th Century these claims were disputed, as Curtis followed in the footsteps of Jackson Haines, heading to Europe never to return again. The 1919 “International Skaters Handbook” published by the International Skating Union of America noted, “He took [the Diamond Medal] with him when he went to Europe in 1874. He never returned to America."

The 1879 event, though still under control of the American Skating Congress, is a reasonable starting point for researching the Championships of America, as it was one of the first times there was a legitimate panel of three judges and results were published publicly. From 1887 onwards, the event was organized by the National Amateur Skating Association, later in co-operation with the New York Athletic Club. 

Advertisement for the event recognized as the 1879 Championships of America

The following results from early American 'fancy skating' contests have been gleaned from newspaper archives, Rubenstein family scrapbooks in the archive of the Jewish Public Library, the books of George Henry Browne and Irving Brokaw and the “International Skaters Handbook”, published by the International Skating Union of America in the 1910's.

Year	Location	Winner	2nd Place	3rd Place	Other Competitors
1879	Manhattan, NY	James B. Story	(not recorded)	(not recorded)	C.T. Bedford, N. Mitchell, M. Lyon
1887	Hoboken, NJ	Frank P. Good	(not recorded)	(not recorded)	James B. Story, R.J. Schaefer, Thomas H. Robinson, Louis Rubenstein, Moses Rubenstein, L.S. Diettenier, George Dawson Phillips
1888	New York City, NY	Louis Rubenstein	George Dawson Phillips	J. Franklin Bacon	Frank P. Good
1889	New York City, NY	Louis Rubenstein	George Dawson Phillips	S.J. Montgomery	(no other competitors)
1891	Albany, NY	Louis Rubenstein/George Dawson Phillips (tie)	Embury McLean	Herbert S. Evans	(no other competitors)
1892	Hoboken, NJ	George Dawson Phillips	J. Franklin Bacon	Embury McLean	(no other competitors)
1893	Salem, Massachusettsa	J. Franklin Bacon	Herbert S. Evans	Thomas M. Vinson	(no other competitors)
1895	Hoboken, NJ	George Dawson Phillips	R.J. Schaefer	Gus Warrick	(no other competitors)
1896	New York City, NY	Herbert S. Evans	George Dawson Phillips	Frank P. Good	Arthur Gaetano Keane, C.A. Trier, A.J. Blanchard, Lewis Edwards
1897	New York City, NY	George Dawson Phillips	J. Michaelson	Arthur Gaetano Keane	Frank P. Good, John J. Doughty, Louis A. Servatius, Thomas M. Vinson, Herbert D. Beissbarth, Lewis Edwards
1898	New York City, NY	Dr. Arthur Gaetano Keane	Irving Brokaw	John J. Doughty	Louis A. Servatius, Howard R. Ward, Mr. Horner
1899	New York City, NY	Dr. Arthur Gaetano Keane	Irving Brokaw	Howard R. Ward	W.W. Arnold, Albert G. Stevens
1900	New York City, NY	Dr. Arthur Gaetano Keane	William F. Duffy	Richard Loewenherz	W.W. Arnold, E.C. Dusenbury, E.T. Hill
1901	New York City, NY	Dr. Arthur Gaetano Keane	Irving Brokaw	William F. Duffy	Richard Loewenherz, W.W. Arnold
1904	New York City, NY	William F. Duffy	Irving Brokaw	Edward W. Bassett	John J. Doughty, Gunnar Stenberg, J.F. Smith
1905	New York City, NY	Dr. Arthur Gaetano Keane	Edward W. Bassett	Irving Brokaw	John J. Doughty, Arthur G. Williams
1906	New York City, NY	Irving Brokaw	Edward W. Bassett	John J. Doughty	Arthur G. Williams
1907	New York City, NY	Edward W. Bassett	George Kirner	Arthur G. Williams	Edward Dunn, John J. Doughty, V.L. Winn
1909	Cleveland, OH	Arthur G. Williams	Edward Dunn	Sylverious Maloney	Mr. Ely, Dr. Hugh Whytock

OTHER EARLY COMPETITIONS OF NOTE IN AMERICA

Year	Location	Event	Winner	2nd	3rd	Other Competitors
1870	Cleveland, Ohio	Juvenile Championship Of The World	Johnnie Cook ('The Human Top')	Charles Cleaveland	(not recorded)	(not recorded)
1873	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Fancy Skating Contest	Gus A. Bluhm	James Allison	Ben Seary	Billy Willard
1886	Burlington, Vermont	Open Competition For A Gold Medal	Moses Rubenstein	Louis Rubenstein	J. Franklin Bacon	J. Evans, S. Miller
1890	Boston, Massachusetts	New England Skating Association Championships	J. Franklin Bacon	H.G. Barnes	Herbert S. Evans	A. Judge, W.L. Littlefield, A.L. Bryant
1891	Cambridge, Massachusetts	New England Skating Association Championships (Men)	Moses Rubenstein	J. Franklin Bacon	J. Evans	W. Barnes, W. Bennett
1891	Cambridge, Massachusetts	New England Skating Association Championships (Ladies)	Rachael Rubenstein	(not recorded)	(not recorded)	(not recorded)
1896	Chicago, Illinois	Championships Of Illinois	John N. Sandblom	(not recorded)	(not recorded)	Allen I. Blanchard, E.S. Woods

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