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)
“O the joy of the strong-brawn’d fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“It is closing time in the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)