International Hockey Hall of Fame
 |
|
| Established | 1943 |
|---|---|
| Location | Invista Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
| Type | Museum |
| Director | Mark Potter (President) |
| Curator | Mike Postovit |
| Website | www.originalhockeyhalloffame.com/ |
The International Hockey Hall of Fame (IHHOF) and Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of ice hockey in Canada, located in Kingston, Ontario. The IHHOF was originally planned to be the one Hockey Hall of Fame but events led to the establishment of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto instead.
IHHOF has been renamed the Original Hockey Hall of Fame. It now focuses on the history of the sport, with emphasis on the role people from Kingston had in its development.
The hall is open Thursday to Sunday from 12 noon to 6 pm. Admission is by donation.
The International Hockey Hall of Fame was founded on September 10, 1943, and incorporated as a non-profit charity by the National Hockey League and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. It was established through the efforts of James T. Sutherland, a former President of the CAHA, who sought to establish it in Kingston because he believed that the city was the birthplace of hockey. In 1943, the NHL and CAHA reached an agreement that a Hall of Fame would be established in Kingston. The first players were inducted on April 30, 1945, although the IHHOF still did not have a permanent home.
Kingston lost its most influential advocate as permanent site of the Hockey Hall of Fame when Sutherland died in 1955. By 1958, the IHHOF organizers had still not raised sufficient funds to construct a permanent building in Kingston. Clarence Campbell, then President of the NHL, grew tired of waiting for the construction to begin and withdrew the NHL's support, subsequently reaching an agreement with the Canadian National Exhibition to establish a new Hall of Fame building in Toronto.
Despite this major setback, the Board of Directors of the International Hockey Hall of Fame moved forward. In 1962, a grant was awarded by the City of Kingston for the construction of a new building. In 1965 the International Hockey Hall of Fame moved into their new building located on the Memorial Centre grounds in Kingston. In 1992, the IHHOF added new exhibits from the International Ice Hockey Federation. The IIHF exhibits were located at the IHHOF from 1992 through 1997. The IIHF relocated them to the HHOF in Toronto, in 1998.
...
Wikipedia