Edgerton Park Arena

Edgerton Park Arena was an indoor

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. 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 The Rochester Cardinals were a professional ice hockey team that was a member of the International Hockey League. The Cardinals, who played at Edgerton Park Arena, lasted only the 1935–36 season, compiling a 15–29–3 record and a host of fin ...

hockey team in 1935–36. The Cardinals played in the International Hockey League and were a farm team of the

New York Americans The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play ...

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 what by that point had become the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...

. Rochester was awarded a new franchise in the American Hockey League in 1956 after Pittsburgh withdrew. The

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

began play in the 1956–57 season. 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 Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American swing dance band formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most popular and com ...

and cowboy star

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

in the 1940s. The arena held 4,200 people for basketball. The building's last user, the Monroe County Fair, moved to what is now

The Dome Center The Dome Center is a fair and convention complex located in Henrietta, New York, just outside the city of Rochester. It was originally part of a 60 acre site that hosted the annual Monroe County (NY) Fair between 1947 and 2013. Facilities ...

in Henrietta in 1957; the building was demolished shortly thereafter. The space is now the site of baseball fields behind the Rochester International Academy; the western wall of the building ran along what is now the far diamond's right field line, parallel to RIA's western wall. Sports venues in New York (state) Former National Basketball Association venues Defunct indoor arenas in New York (state) Demolished sports venues in New York (state) Sports venues in Rochester, New York 1892 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1892 1956 disestablishments in New York (state) Sports venues demolished in 1956 Defunct basketball venues in the United States Basketball venues in New York (state) Defunct indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Indoor ice hockey venues in New York (state) Rochester Royals National Basketball League (United States) venues {{NewYork-sports-venue-stub