Edgerton Park Sports Arena
| Public transit | Rochester Subway (Edgerton Park (RIRTR station)) |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of Rochester |
| Capacity | Basketball: 4,200 Hockey: 3,500 |
| Opened | October 18, 1892 |
| Closed | 1956 |
| Tenants | |
|
Rochester Royals (NBA) (1945–55) Rochester Cardinals (IHL) (1935-36) |
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Edgerton Park Arena was an indoor arena in Rochester, New York. The building was originally constructed in 1892 as the drill hall for a training school for delinquent boys. When the school moved early in the 20th century, the building was turned into an indoor sports arena and exhibition hall. An artificial ice-making system was installed in 1935.
The first professional team to use the building was the Rochester Cardinals hockey team in 1935-36. The Cardinals played in the International Hockey League and were a farm team of the New York Americans of the National Hockey League. Rochester could have been a charter member of the International-American Hockey League which formed in the summer of 1936 upon the merger of the IHL and the Canadian-American Hockey Leagues. However, the Cardinals went into receivership before the end of the 1935–36 season and no suitable owner could be found to operate the team. Also, the arena sat only 3,500 for hockey and officials of the new league wanted a minimum capacity of 5,000. The City of Rochester, the arena's owners, refused to expand the building. This refusal to expand the building meant Rochester had to wait until the Community War Memorial Arena (now Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial) opened in 1955 to join the American Hockey League. Rochester was awarded a new franchise in the American Hockey League in 1956 after Pittsburgh withdrew. The Rochester Americans began play in the 1956-57 season.
In 1940 the International-American Hockey League changed its name to the American Hockey League. The AHL is now the premier minor league in professional hockey.
Edgerton Park Arena was the primary home of the NBA's Rochester Royals from 1945 to 1955. The Royals moved into the new Rochester Community War Memorial for the 1955–56 NBA season. But because of periodic scheduling conflicts and the two-month-long 1956 American Bowling Congress Finals scheduled for the War Memorial, the Royals returned to the Arena to play several games during the 1955–56 season. It also hosted performances by the Glenn Miller Orchestra and cowboy star Gene Autry in the 1940s. The arena held 4,200 people for basketball. The building was demolished in the late 1950s.
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