The Philadelphia Arena was an auditorium used mainly for sporting events located at 46th and Market Streets in West

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The address of the building, originally named the Philadelphia Ice Palace and Auditorium, was 4530 Market Street. The building stood next to what would become the

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WNT ...

TV studio that broadcast '' American Bandstand''. It was built by George F. Pawling, of George F. Pawling & Co., Engineers and Contractors, and opened on Saturday, February 14, 1920 with a college hockey game between

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in ...

; the Bulldogs won, 4–0, before a crowd of over 4,000 despite the fact that the arena had only one small entrance at the time. One of the first teams to make the Arena home was the Yale University men's ice hockey team. Yale did not have a suitable on-campus venue in 1920 and played home games in Philadelphia. During the 1920–1921 season, Yale, Princeton, and Penn made the Arena their home ice.

The Tyrrell era

Jules Mastbaum Jules Ephraim Mastbaum (July 7, 1872 – December 8, 1926) was a Philadelphia movie theater magnate and philanthropist. He donated the Rodin Museum and its collection to the city of Philadelphia. His daughter, Peggy Solomon, was a bridge champion ...

, owner of a movie theater chain (The Stanley Company of America), acquired the building in 1925 and renamed it the Arena. In 1927 the Arena was purchased by Rudy Fried and Maurice Fishman who operated the facility until 1934, when their partnership was placed in receivership. In 1929,

Peter A. Tyrrell Peter A. Tyrrell (April 8, 1896 – May 8, 1973) was an entertainment entrepreneur in Philadelphia, most prominently associated with the Philadelphia Arena. He was one of eleven founders of what eventually became the National Basketball Association ...

(1896–1973) joined the Arena as boxing matchmaker and subsequently became the facility's publicist. In 1934 Tyrrell was named a friendly receiver-in-equity by George Welsh, a federal judge. Tyrrell became general manager of the Arena and served in that capacity until 1958, returning the corporation to profitability and enriching the variety of public entertainment.

Historic events and professional sports

The arena was the site of several historic sporting events, including the professional debut of

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion ( 1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champi ...

, fresh from her triumph in the 1936

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. Roy Rogers, cowboy movie star, performed in his first rodeo at the Philadelphia arena in 1943. The

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

Rodeo played the Arena every season for more than 20 years, and in 1946, when a young cowgirl died after riding a bucking bronco, her funeral was held there. Rogers and the Sons of Pioneers sang "Roundup in the Sky", and after the closing prayer, everybody rode out to the cemetery. It was also the home of the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Banquet. Professionally, the arena was the home of the Philadelphia Quakers of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

in their only season, 1930–1931, as well as home ice for several minor league hockey teams such as the

Philadelphia Arrows The Philadelphia Arrows were a professional ice hockey team that played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1927, the club was Philadelphia's first professional hockey team and played in the Canadian-American Hockey League. The team changed ...

Philadelphia Ramblers The Philadelphia Ramblers were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Ramblers played for six seasons during the infancy of the American Hockey League from 1935 to 1941. History T ...

, the Philadelphia Comets, the Philadelphia Falcons/

Philadelphia Rockets The Philadelphia Rockets were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rockets played for three seasons in American Hockey League from 1946 to 1949. Previously another Rockets team exi ...

and the

Philadelphia Ramblers (EHL) The Philadelphia Ramblers were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Ramblers played for nine seasons in the Eastern Hockey League from 1955 to 1964. After the end of the 1963-64 se ...

, as well as the Philadelphia Warriors and part-time home of the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA when the Philadelphia Convention Center was unavailable. The arena was also a major venue for

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

before the opening of the

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

. Throughout the history of the Arena, such legends as

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regard ...

Lew Tendler "Lefty" Lew Tendler (September 28, 1898 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 5, 1970 in Atlantic City, New Jersey) was an American boxer. He is generally considered one of the best boxers to never have won a world title, though he was a t ...

Gene Tunney James Joseph Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the world heavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the American light heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1 ...

, Joe Frazier,

Jack Delaney Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

, and

Primo Carnera Primo may refer to: People *DJ Premier (born 1966), hip-hop producer, sometimes goes by nickname Primo * Primo Carnera (1906–1967), Italian boxer, World Heavyweight champion 1933–1934 *Primo Cassarino (born 1956), enforcer for the Gambino cr ...

fought there. Several championship wrestling matches occurred there, both for the

NWA NWA or Nwa most commonly refers to: * N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California, US * National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization NWA or Nwa may refer to: Music * New Weird America, a subgenr ...

and the WWWF (including Stan Stasiak winning the WWWF championship belt in 1973, the only time until 1977 the belt ever changed hands outside of Madison Square Garden). Roller Derby also was held there, through the team named the Philadelphia Warriors, not connected with the basketball team, owned by Bill Griffiths, the owner of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds and

Roller Games Roller Games was the name of a sports entertainment spectacle created in the early 1960s in Los Angeles, California — This source is detailed but not neutral; better sources are needed for all of its claims. as a rival to the Jerry Seltzer-owned ...

. "Didja Get Any Onya?" on the album ''

Weasels Ripped My Flesh ''Weasels Ripped My Flesh'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by ...

'' by

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band c ...

was recorded at this venue on March 2, 1969.

Political and other events

The Arena was not used as much for political and other events, as those events tended to be held at

Convention Hall Convention Hall was a convention center in Kansas City, Missouri that hosted the 1900 Democratic National Convention and 1928 Republican National Convention. It was designed by Frederick E. Hill and built at the corner of 13th and Central and cos ...

. However, many of the city's mayoral inauguration parties were held there. Evangelist

Billy Sunday William Ashley "Billy" Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American outfielder in baseball's National League and widely considered the most influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century. Bo ...

spoke there, and before the United States entered World War II,

Charles A. Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

gave a speech before an

America First Committee The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States isolationist pressure group against American entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak. The AFC principally supp ...

Meeting.

Triangle publications

In 1947 the Arena was sold to

Triangle Publications Triangle Publications Inc. was an American media group based first in Philadelphia, and later in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It was a privately held corporation, with the majority of its stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters. Its holding ...

, along with the NBA franchise and the Philadelphia Warriors Basketball team. This transaction made TV station

WFIL-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...

(Channel 6), owned by Triangle Publications, the first joint ownership of a major professional sports team and TV station. In 1958, a group headed by Tyrrell purchased the Arena from the Walter Annenberg Foundation, to which ownership had been transferred by Triangle Publications. At the time of Tyrrell's retirement in 1965, the Arena building was sold at auction to James Toppi Enterprises, a sports promotion concern.

Final years

The building fell out of popular use in the 1970s, due to the building of the

in 1967. From 1967 to 1974, the arena was home to the Eastern Warriors, a Roller Derby team, skating every Friday and Sunday, usually to capacity. In 1977, the deteriorating building was auctioned off. It was renovated and renamed in honor of

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 ...

In 1980, the Continental Basketball Association's

Lancaster Red Roses The Lancaster Red Roses baseball team, originally known as the Maroons, changed its name at the start of the 1906 season during a bitter match with the York, Pennsylvania-based White Roses. Some sources indicate that the rival teams were named fo ...

relocated to the newly named Martin Luther King Jr. Arena and became the Philadelphia Kings. The Kings were coached by longtime 76er and Basketball Hall of Famer

Hal Greer Harold Everett Greer (June 26, 1936 – April 14, 2018) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1958 through 1973. A guard, Greer ...

and led on the court by former NBA superstar Cazzie Russell. The franchise lasted just one season at the legendary arena before returning to Lancaster. The arena was finally destroyed by arson on August 24, 1983. As of 2007, the former site of the arena now contains a housing complex, adjacent to the former TV studio which has become the Ron Brown Commerce Center.

Notes