McMorran Arena is an entertainment complex in Port Huron, Michigan consisting of a 4,800-seat multi-purpose arena and a theater. It was designed by

Alden B. Dow Alden B. Dow (April 10, 1904 – August 20, 1983) was an American architect based in Midland, Michigan, and known for his contributions to the style of Michigan Modern. During a career that spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s, he designed more than ...

and built in 1960 for $3.5 million (equivalent to $ million today). The exterior of the complex is faced with red brick with limestone accents.

Sports

As of the 2015–16 season, McMorran has been the home of the

Port Huron Prowlers The Port Huron Prowlers are a minor professional 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 spo ...

of the

Federal Prospects Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...

. Previous hockey tenants include the

Port Huron Flags The Port Huron Flags were a minor league professional ice hockey team located in Port Huron, Michigan. The Flags competed in the International Hockey League between 1962 and 1981. For three of those seasons from 1971 to 1974, Port Huron was a fa ...

(various incarnations),

Port Huron Wings The Port Huron Flags were a minor league professional ice hockey team located in Port Huron, Michigan. The Flags competed in the International Hockey League between 1962 and 1981. For three of those seasons from 1971 to 1974, Port Huron was a fa ...

, Port Huron Border Cats,

Port Huron Beacons The Port Huron Beacons were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the United Hockey League (UHL) that played from 2002 to 2005. The team was based in Port Huron, Michigan, and played at the McMorran Arena. The team's first head coach was ...

Port Huron IceHawks The Port Huron Icehawks were a minor professional ice hockey team based in Port Huron, Michigan. They were a member of the International Hockey League and played their home games at McMorran Arena from 2007 to 2010. History The franchise was ...

, and

Port Huron Fighting Falcons The Keystone Ice Miners were a Junior A Tier II ice hockey team based at The Ice Mine arena in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. The team moved to Connellsville in May 2014; prior to the move, the team was known as the Port Huron Fighting Falcons. ...

Arena

The arena seats 3,400 for

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 h ...

and indoor football, and 4,800 for

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

s. The arena floor measures . The dasher boards have glass on the ends and glass on the sides for ice hockey. The arena is also used for conventions, circuses, ice shows, trade shows, and banquets, among other events. The arena has hosted many major headlining musicians throughout the years such as

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

, Aerosmith,

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

, Bon Jovi, Rush,

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

, Johnny Cash. The 1998 opening of

RBC Centre RBC Centre, also known as the RBC Dexia Building, is an office tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Unlike the corporate offices of other Canadian financial institutions, the RBC Centre is outside of Toronto's Financial District. It has been owned ...

in Sarnia, Ontario sent most of the arena's concert business across the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

, which separates Port Huron from Sarnia. However, in 2010 McMorran started to rejuvenate its concert lineup with the band

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...

. In 2012, McMorran Arena and the adjacent pavilion were used for the Devil's Asylum

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

. As a result, the Fighting Falcons began their season on the road. In November 2019, the arena received a donation of 3,000 seats from the shuttered Palace of Auburn Hills. Although the seats were free, the city had to bear the cost to move and install them. The city planned to remove the original wooden seats and have new padded the seats in place by summer 2020. The seats were one of several upgrades to the facility which included work on sound and electrical equipment in the theatre, carpeting, signage and a plan to reconfigure the plaza east of the building to accommodate an outdoor ice rink and gathering space for events.

Pavilion

The pavilion features of space for sporting events, trade shows, banquets, meetings, and conventions. In 2016, the city of Port Huron sold the pavilion to St. Clair County Community College for $1. Following the transaction, the Port Huron Minor Hockey Association, which was housed at the Pavilion, merged with the Blue Water Hockey Association, which is based in the city's Glacier Pointe Ice Complex. SC4 renovated the building, which opened that October as the SC4 Fieldhouse. It serves as the home to SC4's athletic teams and will be available for community use, hosting tournaments, showcases and camps in various sports and at various levels. Attached to the pavilion is an octagonal tower which boasts an observation deck at its top. Visitors can climb the 188 steps to the top to see unobstructed views of the entire area. As part of the 2016 renovations, the college installed new accent lighting on the tower's exterior.

Theatre

The 1,157-seat theatre is used for Broadway shows, movies, concerts, and other stage events. It features excellent acoustics and sight lines and also was designed by Alden B. Dow. It is home to the International Symphony Orchestra and the

Port Huron Civic Theatre The Port Huron Civic Theatre (formerly Port Huron Little Theatre) is a historical theatre which started in 1956 in the town of Port Huron, Michigan. For sixteen years, PHLT brought 84 productions to the McMorran Place Theatre stage. In 1976, the ...

. In addition, the complex houses a meeting room and lounge. The exterior of the east wall features a clock of gold anodized aluminum set among limestone panels and serving as a backdrop for the ''Night and Day Fountain''. Both are by sculptor Marshall Fredericks.

References

External links