Is history repeating itself in Kitchener?
Posted Jun 7, 2010 03:35:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A larger arena in Kitchener would not just be better for hockey but would also help attract larger concerts, conferences and other big ticket events to the city. That was the argument made more than 70 years ago when a group of civic-and-sports-minded Kitchener residents came forward with a proposal to build a new, indoor ice rink. The previous rink on Queen Street had its ice removed in the 1930s and would eventually become a dance hall. When the structure itself burned down in 1948, the need for a new arena was accelerated. At the time, Kitchener’s hockey teams were travelling to Waterloo and Galt to play because there was no indoor ice to be found in Kitchener.
The road to what would eventually become the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium was not an easy one. Karen Ball-Pyatt, History Librarian at the KPL, tells 570 News the idea was first floated in 1938. The proposal called for a 5500 seat venue at a cost of $175,000. That venue was described as “Kitchener’s own Maple Leaf Gardens.” But it was shot down in a taxpayer vote and Ball-Pyatt says the idea would not resurface until 1945, when it passed with a slim majority. By that time, the cost had almost tripled to $450,000.
Given the post-war pride and spirit at the time, Ball-Pyatt says there was a much greater appetite for a living memorial to local veterans of World War One and World War Two. Still, debate over site selection saw the project deferred for another four years. Ball-Pyatt says some thought the proposed East Avenue location for The Aud was too far from Kitchener’s downtown while others were concerned by the scope of the project. Ultimately, its proximity to a military site at Knollwood Park would be a deciding factor and, by 1949, there seemed to be an understanding that the city’s war veterans deserved recognition and also that Kitchener needed to give a nod to its hockey heritage. Ball-Pyatt says it didn’t take long after that for construction to begin. The Aud’s cornerstone was laid in May of 1950 and the arena would officially open on May 24, 1951.
When it opened, Ball-Pyatt says our Memorial Auditorium was a state-of-the-art facility with a one-of-a-kind convertible floor. At the time, it also became the fourth largest facility of its kind in Ontario, with a seating capacity of 6200. The final price tag would be $1.25-million (more than $1-million costlier than the original 1938 proposal), $900,000 of which was funded by the city. The rest was contributed by fundraising, including a $200,000 “dream home raffle” for a house in Kitchener’s new subdivision of Westmount. When the city had paid off its debentures on the building (in October of 1965), it held a ceremony at The Aud during which the mortgage was burned.
The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium would immediately attract a senior OHA team — the Flying Dutchmen — as well as first-class Jr. A hockey teams. The Kitchener Rangers would begin to call The Aud home in the 1963-64 season. Ball-Pyatt says the larger East Avenue site also allowed for an expansion of the Central Ontario Exhibition.
