Ванкувердің "Денман Аренасы": Тарихы мен маңызы

Denman Arena was an indoor arena located in the West End neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. The arena was located at 1805 West Georgia Street at the northwest corner with Denman Street. It opened in December 1911 and was destroyed by fire in 1936. Its primary use was for ice sports such as ice hockey. It was the home ice rink of the Vancouver Millionaires professional ice hockey team, and was the location of 1915 Stanley Cup championships. The arena was also used for other sports, musical performances and public assemblies. It was an assembly point for Canadian servicemen during World War I. The 10,500 seat arena was the largest in Canada at the time, and introduced mechanically frozen or "artificial" ice to Canada.

In January 1911, Joe Patrick sold his Nelson, British Columbia lumber business for $440,000. The Patrick family moved to Victoria and the decision was made to use the proceeds of the company sale to go into the business of professional ice hockey. The family built the Denman Arena to support the new Pacific Coast Hockey Association professional ice hockey league, to be run by Joe's sons Frank and Lester Patrick. Both Frank and Lester were professional ice hockey players and had played in the National Hockey Association and other early professional leagues in Eastern Canada. Simultaneously, the Patricks also built the 4000 seat Patrick Arena in Victoria. To build the Vancouver arena, the Patricks bought a parcel of land consisting of thirteen lots from the water's edge of Coal Harbour to Georgia Street, bounded by Denman and Chilco Streets. The location was near Stanley Park to the west, and was connected to the downtown business district by a streetcar line along Georgia Street. The site was previously the location of the Kanaka Ranch, which was settled in the 1860s by Hawaiian families, who grew fruit and vegetables, and produced charcoal, on the site. To finance the construction of the Arena, the Patricks formed the Vancouver Arena Company Limited, capitalized at $200,000. The company was divided into 1000 preferred shares and 1000 common shares, with a 10% annual dividend. The company issued an initial share offering, but by September 1911, the offering had only raised $1400. Two more investors signed on, but it was up to the Paticks to take the rest. To facilitate the playing of ice hockey in Vancouver's moderate climate, the Patricks imported mechanical ice freezing equipment that Frank and Lester Patrick had seen in operation at New York's St. Nicholas Arena. The Denman Arena opened on December 20, 1911, attracting 1500 people for a session of public ice skating. Denman Arena held 10,500 people, making it at the time, the largest indoor arena in Canada, one of the world's largest indoor arenas, and the second largest indoor arena in North America, after the second Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Arena was built at a cost of $226,382. In 1927, the Patricks built the 2,500 seat Denman Auditorium next to the Arena. The Auditorium, which was multi purpose, survived the fire of 1936 and was renovated in 1952. It re opened on September 10, 1952, as the Georgia Auditorium concert hall. It only lasted seven years before it was demolished in 1959, The Connaught Skating Club also was established in December 1911, and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011. During the 1920s, the Club held competitions and an annual "Carnival" show at the Arena. In 1914, the Arena was used to house over 1,000 soldiers who were assembling to form the 23rd Infantry Brigade. The soldiers left Vancouver in August 1914 to be deployed as the first Canadian troops in World War I. On October 21, 1924, the Arena was the site of a political radio broadcast by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who spoke at Denman Arena during a tour of the west. It may have been the first political broadcast in Canada. Later that year, the telephone line installed was used for the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game in British Columbia. On April 28, 1935, over 16,000 assembled at the Arena for a political rally by the CCF, the largest indoor gathering in Vancouver up until that time. The Denman Auditorium was taken over during World War II by the Canadian navy, then used as storage by Boeing Aircraft. It was bought in 1945 by H. M. Singer, who converted it back to a venue. Two notable rock and roll concerts took place in 1957, by a touring group of musicians known as "The Biggest Show of Stars." The lineup included Paul Anka, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, The Drifters, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox and others. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra regularly played at the venue during the 1950s. The final event at the Georgia Auditorium took place on June 19, 1959. It was a free show by the CBC Talent Caravan. Singer managed the Auditorium as a concert venue until 1959.

The site today is now part of Devonian Harbour Park. A historical marker has been placed at the foot of Denman Street, with information about the Arena, the Georgia Auditorium and Coal Harbour.