Louisville Gardens is a multi-purpose, 6,000-seat

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 spectators ...

, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, that opened in 1905, as the Jefferson County Armory. It celebrated its 100th anniversary as former city mayor

Jerry Abramson Jerry Edwin Abramson (born September 12, 1946) is an American Democratic politician who was the 55th lieutenant governor of Kentucky. On November 6, 2014, Governor Steve Beshear announced that Abramson would step down from his position as lieute ...

's official "Family-Friendly New Years Eve" celebration location. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1980.

History

The facility has served the city of Louisville and Jefferson County in a variety of ways during the past century, from utilization as an actual armory to

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

basketball games, to various wrestling events, concerts, political rallies, and

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

flood relief have also been staged there. In addition, the pop sensation band

Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

known as "The Jacksons" during this era - had also performed on October 7, 1979 throughout the band 4th leg from their

Destiny World Tour The Destiny World Tour was the third concert tour by the Jacksons to promote the group's ''Destiny'' album. The tour began on January 22, 1979, with their opening concert in Bremen, West Germany. They visited 3 continents and 14 countries, playin ...

at this arena. More recently,

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

used the 3,000-person capacity arena as a training ground for future stars in a minor-league

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

known as

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow and Matt Jones and Louisville mayor elect, Craig Greenberg. O ...

, until the organization moved to the

Davis Arena Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...

. WWE also staged two

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

events while the venue was known as Louisville Gardens: (

In Your House 6 In Your House 6 (retroactively titled In Your House 6: Rage in the Cage) was the sixth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The event took place on February 18, 19 ...

and In Your House 17: Ground Zero). TNA Wrestling held an event at the venue in 2007.

Freedom Hall Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...

replaced the small, aging facility in 1956, as a more popular venue for city events.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

(Tuesday, August 23, 1960) and

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

both spoke at the arena.

Use as a sports arena

Primary home of

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville (U of L) in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have officially won two NCAA cham ...

starting in 1945 when

Bernard "Peck" Hickman Bernard "Peck" Hickman (October 5, 1911 – February 20, 2000) was an American basketball player and coach. As head coach he led the Louisville Cardinals to the 1948 NAIB Championship (today's NAIA), the 1956 NIT Championship and the school' ...

was head coach until 1956 when they moved to Freedom Hall. They played occasional games there each season until their last on November 30, 1972. The Louisville Cardinals were 153-23 all time at the armory. The

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

when led by

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

played 72 games at the armory going 61-11 there from 1937 to 1956 Included in that was games played in the

SEC men's basketball tournament The SEC men's basketball tournament is the conference tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (currently 14). Its seeding is based on regular season rec ...

which was held at the armory from 1941 to 1952. Additionally, the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

men's basketball tournament was held there from 1949 to 1955 and again from 1964 to 1967. The

, of the

, played their home games at the facility, then known as the Louisville Convention Center, from 1967 through 1970.

Louie Dampier Louis Dampier (born November 20, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player. A 6-foot-tall guard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) (1967–1976), all w ...

was the team's best player in the era. On November 24, 1968,

Penny Ann Early Penny Ann Early (born May 30, 1943) is an American athlete who achieved two notable firsts in her lifetime as she was the first female jockey to be licensed to ride parimutuel horse races, and the first woman ever to play in a professional men's ...

became the first female to appear in a men's professional league, playing briefly in a home game for the Colonels. The

Louisville Catbirds The Louisville Catbirds were a basketball team of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) who played in the mid 1980s. History The Catbirds played two seasons in 1983–85 in Kentucky before moving to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in which the tea ...

, of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(1983–1985), the

Louisville Shooters Louisville Shooters was a team from Louisville, Kentucky that competed in the Global Basketball Association during its inaugural 1991–1992 season and three games into its second season. The Louisville Shooters played their home games in the Lou ...

, of the

Global Basketball Association The Global Basketball Association (GBA) was a professional basketball minor league based in the United States. The majority of the league's franchises were based in the Southern United States, with the remaining teams located in the Midwest. The ...

(1991–1992) and the

, of the ABA 2000 (2004–2006), all played their home basketball games at the Louisville Gardens. The

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

women's basketball team used the Gardens for six home games in the 1997–98 season.

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

teams to use the Gardens as home ice include the Louisville Blades and the

Louisville Shooting Stars The Louisville Shooting Stars were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in the International Hockey League during the 1953–54 season. The Shooting Stars were based in Louisville, Kentucky and played at the Louisville Gardens. ...

Other names

The building was also known as the Convention Center or Louisville Convention Center, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. It was renamed Louisville Gardens in 1975 when the Commonwealth Convention Center (now called

Kentucky International Convention Center The Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC), formerly called the Commonwealth Convention Center, is a large multi-use facility in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The KICC, along with the Kentucky Exposition Center, hosts conventions f ...

) was being built.

Current status

In 2007, the

Cordish Company The Cordish Companies (previously The Cordish Company) is a U.S.-based real estate development and entertainment operating company with its headquarters on the 6th floor of the Pratt Street Power Plant in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded i ...

, manager of the nearby

Fourth Street Live! Fourth Street Live! is a entertainment and retail complex located on 4th Street, between Liberty and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is owned and was developed by the Cordish Company; it was designed by Louisville arch ...

entertainment complex, agreed to take over operation of "The Gardens" from the Metro Louisville Government as part of a $250 million development in

downtown Louisville Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jaco ...

. In 2012, Cordish was released from its obligations to the Gardens.

References

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External links

{{Authority control 1905 establishments in Kentucky Sports venues in Louisville, Kentucky Arts venues in Louisville, Kentucky Music venues in Kentucky Local landmarks in Louisville, Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky American Basketball Association venues Basketball venues in Kentucky Defunct college basketball venues in the United States Indoor arenas in Kentucky Kentucky Colonels Louisville Cardinals men's basketball venues Louisville Cardinals women's basketball venues Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places Sports venues completed in 1905

History

Use as a sports arena

Other names

Current status

See also

References

External links