Memorial Stadium (St. John's) facts for kids
| Location | 20 Lake Avenue, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of St. John's |
| Capacity | Hockey: 4,190 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1952 |
| Opened | 1955 |
| Closed | 2001 |
| Demolished | 2006 (interior only) |
| Construction cost | $7,000,000 |
| Tenants | |
| St. John's Maple Leafs (AHL) (1991–2000) | |
Memorial Stadium was a large building in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It had 4,190 seats and was used for many different events. People mostly knew it as a place for ice hockey games.
Before Memorial Stadium, the city's main indoor rink, Prince's Rink, burned down in 1941. But because of World War II, a new stadium couldn't be built right away. In 1948, a group of citizens started collecting money. They wanted to build a new arena to honor people from Newfoundland who died in the war.
Collecting money was slow. So, in 1954, the city of St. John's decided to pay for the stadium itself. This made the stadium property of the city. Memorial Stadium officially opened in 1955.
It was the home of the St. John's Maple Leafs hockey team from 1991 to 2001. They played in the American Hockey League. The stadium also hosted many other exciting events. These included a hockey game between a local team and the famous Soviet Red Army team. Two NBA basketball games were played there, and many music concerts took place. Even Pope John Paul II visited the stadium.
At first, the stadium had wooden seats. Later, plastic seats were put in when the Maple Leafs started playing there. Memorial Stadium closed its doors in 2001. A new building called Mary Brown’s Centre took its place.
What Happened to Memorial Stadium?
After Memorial Stadium closed, the inside of the building was torn down. In July 2006, work began to turn it into a new Dominion supermarket. This was a big change for the old stadium.
Interestingly, the company that owns Dominion in Newfoundland also owns Loblaws. This same company also turned part of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto into a Loblaws supermarket. Maple Leaf Gardens was the home stadium for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the main team connected to the St. John's Maple Leafs.
On September 21, 2007, Mayor Andy Wells officially opened the new store. It was named Dominion Memorial Market. The new market has cool features like underground parking. It also has escalators and special shopping cart conveyors to move carts between floors. A neat detail is that the store kept the old scoreboard from the stadium's hockey days!
See also
- Architecture of St. John's
