Duquesne Gardens
Encyclopedia
Duquesne Gardens was the main sports arena
located in Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
, USA during the first half of the 20th century. It opened 3 years after a fire destroyed the city's prior sports arena, the Schenley Park Casino
, in 1896. The arena was the first hockey rink to use glass above the dasher boards. Developed locally by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company
, Herculite glass was first tested in Pittsburgh. Most rinks were using wire mesh before the shatterproof glass was invented. The Gardens was the home arena of the AHL
's Pittsburgh Hornets, NHL
's Pittsburgh Pirates
and the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
.
neighborhood, Duquesne Gardens was constructed in 1890 as a trolley
barn. Then in 1895, Christopher Lyman Magee, a Pittsburgh politician, spent nearly $500,000 to purchase and renovate the building. He renamed the structure the Duquesne Gardens in 1896, although it was always called it the "Arena" by the locals. The sports arena was designed to seat 6,500 people.
In its early days, the building hosted rodeos and the circus
. The Gardens also featured Pittsburgh Golden Gloves boxing
and housed a movie theater. However the facility's main attraction was the artificial ice surface. According to Total Hockey, the official encyclopedia of the NHL, Pittsburgh was one of the first cities in North America to lure amateur Canadian players for what was a standard $30 a week stipend and a local job in the early 1900s. The manager of a Canadian team returned from a trip to the Gardens in 1902, according to an account in Total Hockey, and gave the following description to the Toronto Globe: "Pittsburgh is hockey crazy. Over 10,000 turned out for our three games there. The general admission being 35 cents and 75 cents for a box seat . . . the Pittsburgh rink is a dream . . . What a marvellous place it is."
It was that ice palace that helped make the city a professional hockey pioneer, much the way it had given birth to the first pro football players in the 1890s. Players in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
(WPHL) were paid to play hockey before 1904, but that is when the first professional league officially formed. The Pittsburgh HC joined Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario), Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan), Calumet (Michigan) and Houghton (Michigan) to form the International Professional Hockey League
(IPHL) in 1904. Other leagues popped up after that and the IPHL disbanded after the 1907 season.
On January 24, 1899, the Gardens hosted its first hockey game in a match between the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and Western University of Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh
). The Fort Pitt Hornets, Pittsburgh Athletic Club and Pittsburgh Pro HC also played their games at the Gardens. However the Gardens featured many ice hockey games between the years 1910 to 1915. In those days, games were mostly played at the Winter Gardens
inside Exhibition Hall located near the city's Point. Therefore the Gardens was used mostly for recreational skating and amateur hockey matches for teams like the Fort Pitt Hornets. Then in 1911, Lester Patrick
started the Pacific Coast Hockey Association
. To learn how to obtain proper refrigeration in order to generate artificial ice, he came to the Gardens to see how it was done.
However in 1915 the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets
of the United States Amateur Hockey Association was founded. The team evolved from being an amateur to a semi-pro franchise and was one the earliest organized sports teams in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Athletic Associations's Seven, an amateur hockey club, as well as the Carnegie Tech hockey club and the University of Pittsburgh
hockey team also played their home games at the Gardens in 1919.
and were renamed the Pittsburgh Pirates
. The Pirates then joined the NHL on November 7, 1925. Pittsburgh's first ever NHL game was played on December 2, 1925, with the Pirates taking on the New York Americans
in front of 8,200 fans. The Pirates lost the game in overtime, 2-1. The Pirates lasted until 1930 but were facing relocation to Philadelphia due to financial issues associated with the Great Depression
. What helped make the city such a hotbed for hockey in the early part of the century, the Duquesne Gardens, ultimately helped doom the Pirates. The Gardens held slightly more than 5,000 fans, which was fine at the turn of the century but small by comparison in the late '20s to other arenas sprouting up, such as 18,000-seat Madison Square Garden
. The Pirates did not make very much money playing in the 5,000 seat Gardens. The team was so strapped for money that they traded Conacher to the New York Americans during the 1926-27 season for a journeyman player and $2,000. Conacher had been the highest-paid NHL player at $7,500 a year. The Pirates later moved the team across the state to become the Philadelphia Quakers
for the franchise's last season in 1930-31.
However the Gardens still witnessed ice hockey even during these dark financial times. In 1930 Roy Schooley re-acquired the rights to the Yellow Jackets. The Jackets played for two years before the team was purchased in 1932 by Pittsburgh theatre chain owner John Harris
, the founder of the Ice Capades
. Harris then went on to purchase a new $5,000 sanitary soda fountain for the Gardens and renovated a portion of the building to become one of the largest dance hall
s in America.
of the International-American Hockey League and merged them with players from the Yellow Jackets and the IHL's Pittsburgh Shamrocks
. The team was named the Pittsburgh Hornets and became a member of the American Hockey League
. The Gardens would be home for the Hornets for the next 20 seasons. The Hornets played their first game at the Gardens on November 8, 1936, a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Barons. The franchise later won Calder Cups in 1951 versus the Providence Reds
, and in 1955, versus the Buffalo Bisons
.
on which Pete Maravich
's father and future college coach Press Maravich
played. The arena also hosted the first of 16 NBA neutral site regular season games played in Pittsburgh. Played on March 11, 1953 the NBA would not play another regular season contest in the city until the Civic Arena's completion.
Blvd." The Park Plaza Apartments and Duranti's Restaurant now stand on the site. Two sections of red brick wall from the Gardens form part of the restaurant's wall on Craig Street. The Gardens would be replaced as the home rink of the city's pro hockey teams. Construction of the Civic Arena
began in 1958, three miles to the west of the Gardens.
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
located in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA during the first half of the 20th century. It opened 3 years after a fire destroyed the city's prior sports arena, the Schenley Park Casino
Schenley Park Casino
The Schenley Park Casino was Pittsburgh’s first multi-purpose arena. The facility was considered the envy of the sports and entertainment world during the early 1890's, with amenities that were unsurpassed anywhere on the globe. It was built at the entrance to Schenley Park in Oakland near the...
, in 1896. The arena was the first hockey rink to use glass above the dasher boards. Developed locally by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company
PPG Industries
PPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion...
, Herculite glass was first tested in Pittsburgh. Most rinks were using wire mesh before the shatterproof glass was invented. The Gardens was the home arena of the AHL
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
's Pittsburgh Hornets, NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
and the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , was a semi-professional ice hockey league from the early 1900s. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league was the pre-eminent ice hockey league at the time in the United States...
.
Beginnings
Situated near the corner of Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in the city's OaklandOakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
neighborhood, Duquesne Gardens was constructed in 1890 as a trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
barn. Then in 1895, Christopher Lyman Magee, a Pittsburgh politician, spent nearly $500,000 to purchase and renovate the building. He renamed the structure the Duquesne Gardens in 1896, although it was always called it the "Arena" by the locals. The sports arena was designed to seat 6,500 people.
In its early days, the building hosted rodeos and the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
. The Gardens also featured Pittsburgh Golden Gloves boxing
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
and housed a movie theater. However the facility's main attraction was the artificial ice surface. According to Total Hockey, the official encyclopedia of the NHL, Pittsburgh was one of the first cities in North America to lure amateur Canadian players for what was a standard $30 a week stipend and a local job in the early 1900s. The manager of a Canadian team returned from a trip to the Gardens in 1902, according to an account in Total Hockey, and gave the following description to the Toronto Globe: "Pittsburgh is hockey crazy. Over 10,000 turned out for our three games there. The general admission being 35 cents and 75 cents for a box seat . . . the Pittsburgh rink is a dream . . . What a marvellous place it is."
It was that ice palace that helped make the city a professional hockey pioneer, much the way it had given birth to the first pro football players in the 1890s. Players in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , was a semi-professional ice hockey league from the early 1900s. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league was the pre-eminent ice hockey league at the time in the United States...
(WPHL) were paid to play hockey before 1904, but that is when the first professional league officially formed. The Pittsburgh HC joined Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario), Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan), Calumet (Michigan) and Houghton (Michigan) to form the International Professional Hockey League
International Professional Hockey League
The International Professional Hockey League was the first fully professional ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack 'Doc' Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghton, Michigan. The IPHL was a five team circuit which included...
(IPHL) in 1904. Other leagues popped up after that and the IPHL disbanded after the 1907 season.
On January 24, 1899, the Gardens hosted its first hockey game in a match between the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and Western University of Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
). The Fort Pitt Hornets, Pittsburgh Athletic Club and Pittsburgh Pro HC also played their games at the Gardens. However the Gardens featured many ice hockey games between the years 1910 to 1915. In those days, games were mostly played at the Winter Gardens
Winter Garden at Exposition Hall
The Winter Garden at Exposition Hall was Pittsburgh's third major indoor skating rink which lasted from 1916 to 1920. It stood at the current site of Point State Park. The facility consisted of three building: Main Hall, Music Hall and Machinery Hall. The Exposition was originally supposed to be a...
inside Exhibition Hall located near the city's Point. Therefore the Gardens was used mostly for recreational skating and amateur hockey matches for teams like the Fort Pitt Hornets. Then in 1911, Lester Patrick
Lester Patrick
Curtis Lester "The Silver Fox" Patrick born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, was a professional ice hockey player and coach associated with the Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association , and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League...
started the Pacific Coast Hockey Association
Pacific Coast Hockey Association
The Pacific Coast Hockey Association was a professional men's ice hockey league in western Canada and the western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League...
. To learn how to obtain proper refrigeration in order to generate artificial ice, he came to the Gardens to see how it was done.
However in 1915 the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets
Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets
The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets was an amateur hockey team that existed between . They evolved from being an amateur to a semi-pro team and are one the earliest sports organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Yellow Jackets played primarily in the United States Amateur Hockey Association...
of the United States Amateur Hockey Association was founded. The team evolved from being an amateur to a semi-pro franchise and was one the earliest organized sports teams in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Athletic Associations's Seven, an amateur hockey club, as well as the Carnegie Tech hockey club and the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
hockey team also played their home games at the Gardens in 1919.
Pittsburgh Pirates
In 1925, the Yellow Jackets were sold to James Callahan and mobster William DwyerBill Dwyer (mobster)
William Vincent Dwyer , known as "Big Bill" Dwyer, was an early Prohibition gangster and bootlegger in New York during the 1920s. He used his profits to purchase sports properties, including the New York Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League , as well as the Brooklyn...
and were renamed the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
. The Pirates then joined the NHL on November 7, 1925. Pittsburgh's first ever NHL game was played on December 2, 1925, with the Pirates taking on the New York Americans
New York Americans
The New York Americans were a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League and the second to play in the United States. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals...
in front of 8,200 fans. The Pirates lost the game in overtime, 2-1. The Pirates lasted until 1930 but were facing relocation to Philadelphia due to financial issues associated with the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. What helped make the city such a hotbed for hockey in the early part of the century, the Duquesne Gardens, ultimately helped doom the Pirates. The Gardens held slightly more than 5,000 fans, which was fine at the turn of the century but small by comparison in the late '20s to other arenas sprouting up, such as 18,000-seat Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. The Pirates did not make very much money playing in the 5,000 seat Gardens. The team was so strapped for money that they traded Conacher to the New York Americans during the 1926-27 season for a journeyman player and $2,000. Conacher had been the highest-paid NHL player at $7,500 a year. The Pirates later moved the team across the state to become the Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers (NHL)
The Philadelphia Quakers were an American professional ice hockey team that played only one full season in the National Hockey League , 1930–31, at the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
for the franchise's last season in 1930-31.
However the Gardens still witnessed ice hockey even during these dark financial times. In 1930 Roy Schooley re-acquired the rights to the Yellow Jackets. The Jackets played for two years before the team was purchased in 1932 by Pittsburgh theatre chain owner John Harris
John Harris
-Politics and government:*John Harris , English MP for Grampound in 1555*John Harris English MP for Bere Alston in 1640*John Harris , English MP for Liskeard...
, the founder of the Ice Capades
Ice Capades
The Ice Capades was a traveling entertainment show featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympicand National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur competition....
. Harris then went on to purchase a new $5,000 sanitary soda fountain for the Gardens and renovated a portion of the building to become one of the largest dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
s in America.
Pittsburgh Hornets
On October 4, 1936, Harris purchased the Detroit OlympicsDetroit Olympics
The Detroit Olympics were a minor league hockey team located in Detroit, Michigan that was a member of the Canadian Professional Hockey League 1927-29 and the International-American Hockey League 1929-36. The team played all of their home games at the Detroit Olympia...
of the International-American Hockey League and merged them with players from the Yellow Jackets and the IHL's Pittsburgh Shamrocks
Pittsburgh Shamrocks
The Pittsburgh Shamrocks played in the International Hockey League in 1935–36. The Shamrocks played all of their home games at the Duquesne Gardens. During that lone season, the team finished in fourth place in the West Division behind the Detroit Olympics, Cleveland Falcons and Windsor Bulldogs....
. The team was named the Pittsburgh Hornets and became a member of the American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
. The Gardens would be home for the Hornets for the next 20 seasons. The Hornets played their first game at the Gardens on November 8, 1936, a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Barons. The franchise later won Calder Cups in 1951 versus the Providence Reds
Providence Reds
The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League between 1926–1936 and the American Hockey League from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956...
, and in 1955, versus the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons (AHL)
The Buffalo Bisons were an American Hockey League ice hockey franchise that played from 1940 to 1970 in Buffalo, New York. They replaced the original Buffalo Bisons hockey team, which left the area in 1936 after its arena collapsed...
.
Basketball
The arena was the home for Duquesne University Basketball as well as the founding NBA franchise Pittsburgh IronmenPittsburgh Ironmen
The Pittsburgh Ironmen were a charter member of the Basketball Association of America . The team was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They ended their only season in the BAA in 1946-47 with a record of 15-45, finishing in fifth and last place in the Western Division and worst overall in the league...
on which Pete Maravich
Pete Maravich
Peter "Pistol Pete" Press Maravich was an American professional basketball player. Born and raised in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University and played for three NBA teams until injuries induced him to retire in 1980...
's father and future college coach Press Maravich
Press Maravich
Petar "Press" Maravich was an American college and professional basketball coach. He received the nickname "Press" for always having gossip-styled updates in his hometown of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb. Maravich Sr...
played. The arena also hosted the first of 16 NBA neutral site regular season games played in Pittsburgh. Played on March 11, 1953 the NBA would not play another regular season contest in the city until the Civic Arena's completion.
Demolition
The Gardens was demolished in 1956. On June 18, 1998, the intersection where the Gardens once stood was dedicated as "Billy ConnBilly Conn
William David Conn , better known as Billy Conn, was an American Light-Heavyweight boxing champion famed for his fights with Joe Louis. He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins by knockout...
Blvd." The Park Plaza Apartments and Duranti's Restaurant now stand on the site. Two sections of red brick wall from the Gardens form part of the restaurant's wall on Craig Street. The Gardens would be replaced as the home rink of the city's pro hockey teams. Construction of the Civic Arena
Mellon Arena
Civic Arena is an indoor arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that is currently undergoing demolition. It was the first retractable roof major sports venue in the world, covering 170,000 sq. feet and constructed with just shy of 3,000 tons of Pittsburgh steel...
began in 1958, three miles to the west of the Gardens.
Legacy
- The Gardens was the first hockey rink to use glass above the dasher boards.
- It was also the fourth ice rink in the world to use a ZamboniIce resurfacerAn ice resurfacer is a truck-like vehicle or smaller device used to clean and smooth the surface of an ice rink. The first ice resurfacer was developed by Frank J. Zamboni in 1949 in the city of Paramount, California...
ice resurfacing machine.
- The arena's ice surface was nearly 50 feet longer than today's NHL rinks and had state-of-the-art refrigeration and resurfacing technology. However the NHL made the Pirates reduce the ice sheet to conform to NHL standards when that franchise began play in 1925.
- Program covers called the Gardens: "The Largest and Most Beautiful Skating Palace in the World." The competition and ice surface garnered the attention of hockey players all across CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Many top-notch Canadian players came to play in front of capacity crowds of 5,000 in Pittsburgh. Even while the building celebrated its 40th anniversary, the Gardens still had one of the highest-regarded ice surfaces in North America, still drew hockey players from Canada.
- On January 10, 1956 it hosted the American Hockey League All Star Game for the city of Pittsburgh.