History
The site was originally the family-owned fruit orchard of Harold and Ralph Wampler.The name stems from HA from Harold and RA from Ralph. In 1956, the Wampler Ballarena was erected, which still stands today in the six-building complex. The arena itself opened in 1964. The original plans did not include an ice rink, but were changed to accommodate the Dayton Gems who were looking for a home arena. The complex now spans 165,000 square feet (15,300 m2) which consists of the main arena, four exhibition halls, a conference center, a pub and a golf course.
This arena is where Wayne Gretzky played his first professional hockey game; a pre-season game between the Indianapolis Racers and the Cincinnati Stingers, on September 27, 1978.
Read more about this topic: Hara Arena
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“The whole history of civilisation is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)