The Galt Arena Gardens is the oldest continuously-operating ice hockey arena in the world and the oldest operating arena in Ontario. It was built throughout 1921 and opened in January 1922. It is located in the city of Galt, which is now a part of the city of Cambridge, Ontario. The arena is noted for its impressive external facade. Hockey legend Gordie Howe played a season in the arena for the Galt Red Wings before playing in the National Hockey League. Ontario Hockey Association teams including the Galt Rockets and Galt Black Hawks also played at the building.
Several ice hockey arenas are older, including the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa, built in 1898, and the Stannus Street Rink, of Windsor, Nova Scotia, built in 1897, but are no longer in operation for ice hockey. The 1910 Matthews Arena in Boston is still in operation, but it closed for several seasons due to fires and for renovations.
The arena was most recently renovated in 1997, replacing the concrete floor, the spectator seating and the dressing rooms. The renovation reduced seating capacity from 2,000 to 1,100.
Famous quotes containing the words galt, arena and/or gardens:
“The hearts that would have given their blood like water,
Beat heavily beyond the Atlantic roar.
Fair these broad meads—these hoary woods are grand:
But we are exiles from our fathers’ land.”
—John Galt (1877–1957)
“This is a Senate of equals, of men of individual honor and personal character, and of absolute independence. We know no masters, we acknowledge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of champions.”
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852)
“Within the memory of many of my townsmen the road near which my house stands resounded with the laugh and gossip of inhabitants, and the woods which border it were notched and dotted here and there with their little gardens and dwellings, though it was then much more shut in by the forest than now.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)