Grand National Rink
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The Grand National Rink was an outdoor skating rink located in the Brockton Village neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1896 to 1902. At the time, it was the largest open-air rink in the
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. Its location is now the site of the McCormick Playground Arena at
McCormick Park McCormick Park is a municipal park and recreational area at 66 Sheridan Avenue in the Brockton Village neighbourhood enclave of Little Portugal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1911 as the McCormick Playground on the property of the former ...
in the Little Portugal neighbourhood. 


History

Business
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
Andrew Wheeler Green owned the Grand National Rink at 153 Brock Avenue, south of
Dundas Street Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways— 2, 5, and 99—followed long sectio ...
. Opened in December 1896, the north side of the grounds featured the ice rink and a heated bandstand. Expansion plans began in March 1897 to add new amenities. By May 1900, a new bandstand was constructed and the grounds featured a large fountain surrounded by evergreen trees. A basketball court was added along with a race track for
sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...
and distance running and an athletic field for jumping and vaulting. One corner had a summertime outdoor roller skating rink and an open-air hockey rink for the winter. Skating carnivals were held at the Grand National Rink along with speed skating races that attracted crowds of up to 1,000 spectators. In January 1902, the rink was awarded the bid by the Amateur Skating Association of Canada to hold the Ontario racing championships during the first week of February. Event organizers expected the tournament to attract a wide array of speed skaters from across the country and Green anticipated large attendance numbers. However, its location was too distant from the city’s downtown to draw a big crowd and the gathering became a local
sporting event Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can ...
with a
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name. Green's incurred financial losses forced the closure of the Grand National Rink in 1902.


Reopenings

The grounds of the Grand National Rink remained vacant until the end of 1907, which was then followed by two brief reopenings.  


Royal Alexandra Rink

The north end of the Grand National Rink became the Royal Alexandra Rink, reopened as an outdoor hockey rink in January 1908 at 189 Brock Avenue. Its secretary was Thomas Bert Andrew, a hockey player with the Bank of Toronto Hockey Club in 1904 whose brother, William Herbert Andrew, attended the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902. The last scheduled hockey game at the Royal Alexandra Rink was held in March 1908. By April, the rink and its adjoining property became the grounds for a three-acre (1.2 ha)
baseball field A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
with a large bleacher-seating area.


Brock Avenue Rink

Toronto Marlboros treasurer Arthur Hillyard Birmingham and his brother, team captain Herbert Frederick Birmingham, organized a
consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
of hockey players to bring the Toronto Professional Hockey Club, a predecessor of the Toronto Maple Leafs, over to the
Eastern Canada Hockey Association The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was a men's amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with the top clubs from two other leagues: four ...
(ECHA) in response to the hockey club's withdrawal from the Ontario Professional Hockey League on November 19, 1909. The Birmingham brothers
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a proposal to the ECHA on November 24 about their plan to erect a large
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roof over the site of the former Grand National Rink and install wooden sideboards for a hockey rink by the end of 1909. The cost to build the temporary structure with a seating capacity for 4,000 people was . Construction of a permanent
hockey arena An ice hockey arena (or ice hockey venue, or ice hockey stadium) is a sport venue in which an ice hockey competition is held. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette and rink bandy. Multi-purpose arenas A number of i ...
for the professional team was scheduled for the following year on the grounds of the baseball field. The ECHA, which then became the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA), accepted the proposal on the condition that the new indoor arena had to be ready to house the Toronto club by the next summer. The former Royal Alexandra Rink became the Brock Avenue Rink, reopened in December 1909 at 189 Brock Avenue. The ice rink featured amateur hockey games, skating carnivals and speed skating races. When the CHA dissolved on January 15, 1910, its hockey teams were transferred over to the National Hockey Association and its agreement with the Birmingham brothers came to an end. The last known skating event at the Brock Avenue Rink was held in March 1910 and the Mutual Street Arena in downtown Toronto became the first home arena of the
Toronto Hockey Club The Toronto Hockey Club, known as the Torontos and the Toronto Blueshirts, was a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They were a member of the National Hockey Association (NHA). The club was founded in 1911 and began operations in 1 ...
and, subsequently, the Toronto Maple Leafs.  


McCormick Park

The city of Toronto purchased the property of the former Grand National Rink for in December 1910 for the purpose of establishing a
playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
. The
parcel of land A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a ca ...
became the McCormick Playground in 1911, named in recognition of
Mary Virginia McCormick Mary Virginia McCormick (May 5, 1861 – May 24, 1941) was a wealthy American philanthropist who donated to humanitarian causes in the United States and Canada in the early twentieth century. She was a family member, member of the McCormick fami ...
, the daughter of American
inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
Cyrus Hall McCormick Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the ...
who lived in Toronto in 1908 and donated to the Toronto Playgrounds Association in 1910. The McCormick Recreation Centre opened at the north end of the property in 1912 at 163 Brock Avenue. By 1963, the outdoor playground became known as McCormick Park. A new McCormick Recreation Centre was opened in 1964 at 66 Sheridan Avenue, located immediately east of the original building which itself became the site for the McCormick Playground Arena in 1972, an indoor skating arena at 179 Brock Avenue.


List of notable speed skaters

Notable
athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...
who skated at the Grand National Rink include the following: * Alice Louisa "Louie" Hern, Toronto women's skating champion in 1900 in the mile-long (1.6 km) mixed pairs who married her skating partner in 1902. * John S. Johnson, American speed skating world record holder in 1895 who competed in the mile-long (1.6 km) race at the rink in 1901.   * John "Johnny" Nilsson, American speed skating world record holder in 1897 and 1900 who competed against Johnson at the rink in 1901. * William Charles Lawrence "Larry" Piper, Canadian skating champion in 1901 in the 220-yard (200 m) hurdles who later became a professional baseball player in the minor leagues in 1908. * Frederick "Fred" James Robson, Canadian skating champion in the 220-yard (200 m) straightaways in 1900 and 1901 who later won speed skating world records in 1904 and 1911. * Lot Roe, Ontario skating champion in the two-mile (3.2 km) and five-mile (8 km) races at the rink in 1902 who later won a speed skating world record in 1910. * Lewis "Lou" Leslie Walker, Toronto men's skating champion in 1900 in the mile-long (1.6 km) mixed pairs with Hern who later married her in 1902.


References

{{reflist Defunct sports venues in Toronto Ice rinks 1896 establishments in Canada 1902 disestablishments in Canada 1908 establishments in Canada 1908 disestablishments in Canada 1909 establishments in Canada 1910 disestablishments in Canada