Misplaced Pages

#932067

50-595: Outside team sports, the Duquesne Garden Ball Room , located on the arena's second floor, was also one of the largest dance halls in the country during the time. Duquesne Garden was originally built in 1890 as a trolley barn for the Duquesne Traction Company in the city's Oakland neighborhood. In 1895, Christopher Lyman Magee , a Pittsburgh politician, spent nearly $ 500,000 ($ 18.3 million in 2024) to purchase and renovate

100-766: A Canadian team returned from a trip to the Garden in 1902, according to an account in Total Hockey , and gave the following description to the Toronto Globe : "Pittsburgh is hockey crazy. Over 10,000 turned out for our three games there. The general admission being 35 cents and 75 cents for a box seat . . . the Pittsburgh rink is a dream . . . What a marvellous place it is." The teams of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , and

150-808: A dance hall in Harlem (a black neighborhood in New York City) was the first truly integrated building in the United States — for both the dancers and the musicians. "We didn't care about the color of your skin. All we wanted to know was: Can you dance?" Texas has a high concentration of community dance halls, the largest number of them built by German and Czech immigrants. Following World War I in 1918, dancing became enormously popular in Britain , especially with working-class women. The purpose-built dance hall, or "palais de danse" emerged,

200-468: A drawback. The taxi dance hall was a dance hall with a specific arrangement, wherein the patrons hire hall employees to dance with them. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub . The majority of towns and cities in the West had at least one dance hall, and almost always featured live musicians playing

250-499: A future college coach and father to Hall of Famer Pete Maravich , and Moe Becker . The arena also hosted the first of 16 NBA neutral site regular season games played in Pittsburgh. Another sport played at the arena was tennis . On January 15, 1937, the Garden hosted a championship tennis match between world champions Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry . The Gardens also featured several notable concert acts throughout its history. On July 4, 1929, Jelly Roll Morton and his jazz band,

300-501: A game at the Garden. His 11 goals is considered to be a record for the arena. From 1910 to 1915, hockey and ice skating at the Garden were replaced by roller skating, which was experiencing a wave of popularity. Hockey was brought back in the winter of 1915–16, when the amateur Duquesne Garden hockey team (which later played under the banner of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association and further evolved into

350-592: A range of music from strict tempo ballroom dance music to big band , swing , and jazz . The early days of rock n' roll were briefly played out in dance halls, until they were superseded by nightclubs. Commercial dance halls in the United States began to appear toward the end of the nineteenth century and grew in popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century. These halls were generally frequented by working-class or immigrant teenagers that admired dance halls for their lack of chaperoning and convenience as cheap commercial leisure. The rapidly changing economy of

400-965: The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The USAHA also inherited the existing affiliation agreement with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), which allowed teams from the USAHA to play against teams in either the AAU or the CAHA. William S. Haddock from Pittsburgh was elected the first president of the USAHA. The original eight teams in the USAHA included the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets , and teams from Boston , Cleveland , New York City , Philadelphia, and three from Minnesota including Duluth , Eveleth , and Saint Paul . Later additions were

450-644: The Boston Athletic Association , the Fort Pitt Hornets , Milwaukee , Minneapolis , and three transfers from the American Amateur Hockey Association which included teams from Calumet , Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan . The USAHA divided its team into three divisions for the first two seasons, with teams grouped in the east, the mid-west and northwest. From 1922 onward, the association

500-690: The International Hockey League (IHL). Pittsburgh theatre chain owner John H. Harris secured a lease on the Garden in 1932 and by 1935 established a third Yellow Jackets incarnation which he entered in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . In the 1935–36 season, the Yellow Jackets shared the Garden's ice time with the short-lived Pittsburgh Shamrocks of the IHL. Harris also scheduled boxing and rodeos at

550-537: The National Hockey League . It continued as a governing body until 1930, when its responsibilities were assumed by the Amateur Athletic Union . The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was founded on October 25, 1920 in Philadelphia . The International Skating Union of America which had governed ice hockey until then, resolved to turn over control of the sport with the approval of

SECTION 10

#1732776130933

600-627: The Pittsburgh Professionals of the International Professional Hockey League , played their games at the Garden up until 1909. The Garden's artificial ice surface helped make Pittsburgh a professional hockey pioneer, much the way the region had given birth to the first professional American football players in the 1890s . Players in the WPHL were paid to play hockey before 1904, but that is when

650-657: The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateur Hockey Association ) was founded. The Carnegie Tech hockey club and the University of Pittsburgh hockey team also played their home games at the Garden. Crowds also attended skating sessions at Garden and took part in public skating events. In 1920, public skating was held every evening, except on days for performances, with Saturday morning being set aside for school children who wanted to learn how to skate. On March 16, 1920,

700-680: The Red Hot Peppers , played the Garden. Then in August 1933, the arena hosted Cab Calloway and his orchestra. Segments of Calloway's show there was then broadcast over the radio. The Gardens also hosted, opera singer, Enrico Caruso . While the Garden earned much praise in its early days, the place was outdated by the 1920s. About 15,000 fans could be comfortably seated in Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden , and Montreal Forum . Not even half that number could squeeze into

750-530: The United States men's national ice hockey team was founded at the Garden. That same year at the Garden, Roy Schooley , the arena's manager, put together an 11-player squad that won silver at the Antwerp Games, in the sport's Olympic debut . The Garden also hosted several contests, which were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, to help raise money in order to cover the expenses associated with sending

800-401: The circus . The Garden also featured Pittsburgh Golden Gloves boxing and housed a movie theater. The Duquesne Garden Ball Room, located on the second floor, has been used by some of the leading clubs and societies in the city for their annual dances. The building quickly became the site for all manner of gatherings: There were opera performances, boxing matches and political rallies. However,

850-416: The settlement house 's dance hall and would be angered when approached by settlement hall staff or residents instructing them to dance differently. According to one report, "a resident would say to a new couple dancing irregularly, "You can't dance that way in this hall." The couple in self-defense would answer, "I can dance that way in every other hall in the city." Starting in the early 1930s, The Savoy ,

900-487: The 1926–27 season for a journeyman player and $ 2,000. Conacher had been the highest-paid NHL player at $ 7,500 a year. The Pirates later moved the team across the state to become the Philadelphia Quakers for the franchise's last season in 1930–31. The Garden still witnessed ice hockey even during these dark financial times. In 1930, Roy Schooley founded a new Yellow Jackets team, which played for two years in

950-533: The Duquesne Gardens. Billy Conn , the famed Pittsburgh boxer who nearly won a match against Joe Louis , fought at the Gardens. On June 18, 1998, the intersection where the Gardens once stood was dedicated as "Billy Conn Blvd." Demolition of The Gardens brought a temporary end to professional ice hockey in Pittsburgh, as there was no other suitable arena to replace it. The Rochester Americans replaced

1000-600: The Garden hosted its first ice hockey game in a match between the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and Western University of Pennsylvania ( University of Pittsburgh ). According to Total Hockey , the official encyclopedia of the NHL, Pittsburgh was one of the first cities in North America to lure amateur Canadian players for what was a standard $ 30 a week stipend and a local job in the early 1900s. The manager of

1050-561: The Garden. Around this time, the ice-making operation at the Garden was antiquated. In November 1927, the Toronto Star reported that the Pirates had to train at a local gym instead of the Garden, since the Garden's ice machine had broken down. However, while celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Garden still boasted as having one of the highest-regarded ice surfaces in North America, still drawing hockey players from Canada. The Gardens

SECTION 20

#1732776130933

1100-428: The Garden. One notable rodeo act to come to the Gardens was Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger , who performed there on April 30, 1945. Several other historic events took place at the Garden during Harris' tenure. First, on March 31, 1936, he hired Sonja Henie , a 24-year-old Norwegian figure skater , to perform before a Yellow Jackets' home game. Harris found it difficult to draw a large crowd to hockey games during

1150-736: The Gardens hosted the American Hockey League All Star Game for the city of Pittsburgh. However the Gardens was also the home for Duquesne University Basketball as well as the Pittsburgh Ironmen of the Basketball Association of America, a forerunner to the NBA. The team ended their only season in the BAA in 1946–47 with a record of 15–45. The Ironmen consisted of players like Press Maravich ,

1200-532: The Gardens was to be torn down and renovated. Jim Kubus, the editor of pittsburghhockey.net, a local history site, and his brother removed the bricks before the wall could be destroyed and stored them for the next two years. Today, a Captain Morgan -sponsored lounge, which is located inside Pittsburgh's current multi-purpose arena, the PPG Paints Arena , contains a small section of that particular wall from

1250-649: The Great Depression, so he hired Henie to entertain the audience between periods. The performances were a rousing success, and Harris soon set out to create an ice show to rival the song and dance spectaculars that were popular on Broadway. He developed the Ice Capades , which premiered in September 1940. The skating corps of 150 young women clad in elaborate costumes captivated audiences. Harris's Ice Capades, founded in Pittsburgh with an $ 85,000 investment,

1300-625: The Hornets in the AHL. Construction of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena began in 1958, three miles to the west of the Gardens. 40°26′53″N 79°56′55″W  /  40.4480°N 79.9486°W  / 40.4480; -79.9486 Dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing , but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards

1350-545: The Pirates. The Garden held slightly more than 5,000 fans, which was fine at the turn of the century but small by comparison in the late 1920s to other arenas sprouting up, such as 18,000-seat Madison Square Garden . The Pirates did not make very much money playing in the 5,000-seat Garden. The team was so strapped for money that they traded former captain Lionel Conacher to the New York Americans during

1400-535: The U.S. Olympic Hockey team to the games held in Antwerp , Belgium . By 1924, the Yellow Jackets of the USAHA's Western Division were so dominant that they spun off another Pittsburgh team, the Fort Pitt Hornets , who played in the Eastern Division. In 1925, both Pittsburgh clubs won their respective divisions and played each other for the 1924-1925 USAHA championship at the Garden. The Yellow Jackets won

1450-587: The USAHA and the CAHA, led to CAHA president Silver Quilty cancelling the agreement in 1925. The USAHA stopped league play after the 1924–25 season. The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets joined the National Hockey League , and the western teams were reorganized as the Central Hockey League in 1925, which later became the American Hockey Association in 1926. The association had faced difficulties with consistent refereeing , and

1500-658: The United States, included United States Olympic hockey team . The USAHA selected the Augsburg College hockey team to represent the US at the 1928 Winter Olympics , however the American Olympic Committee , led by Douglas MacArthur , refused to certify the Augsburg team due to the lack of Olympic trials. Haddock insisted that the Augsburg team was the only one in the country that had the ability and

1550-616: The Yellow Jackets and Shamrocks players then joined the Hornets. The Yellow Jackets formally folded, while the Garden would be home for the Hornets for the next 20 seasons. The Hornets played their first game at the Garden on November 8, 1936, a 5–2 win over the Cleveland Barons . The franchise later won Calder Cups in 1951, versus the Providence Reds , and in 1955, versus the Buffalo Bisons . On January 10, 1956,

Duquesne Gardens - Misplaced Pages Continue

1600-523: The additions of possibilities for prostitution, as well as access to alcohol, within dance halls reformers and religious leaders were increasingly against the existence of these halls. In order to discourage young adults from frequenting dance halls, media of the early twentieth century used subjective and inflammatory language to sway readers toward ideas that dance halls would morally corrupt young women while reformers petitioned to their local governments for regulation surrounding dance halls. In 1917, with

1650-537: The approval of the vice investigation panel the Fosdick Commission , a committee was organized in Louisville, Kentucky to develop rules and regulations for public dance halls. According to middle- and upper-class white vice investigators and social reformers, many young people, who they believed to be lacking in proper moral character, attempted the "irregular dancing in vogue in the commercial halls" in

1700-426: The building. He named the transformed structure Duquesne Garden, although it was always called the "Arena" by the locals. The Garden, which had the world's largest indoor ice rink and a second-floor ballroom, became a premier indoor venue. Speed skating , roller skating , dance contests, musical performances, roller derby , bicycle racing , and college basketball were all hosted at the Garden, as were rodeos and

1750-436: The early twentieth century shifted the views many young adults had about the separation between work and leisure, increasing dance hall popularity from the 1900s into the 1920s. With increased financial freedom, as compared to prior decades, young immigrant and working-class women were able to access dance halls, generally placed within urban areas, that did not require chaperones. Dance halls allowed young working-class women

1800-521: The end of the century. The palais de danse was a term applied to purpose-built dance halls in Britain and Commonwealth countries, which became popular after the First World War. Other structural forms of dance halls include the dance pavilion which has a roof but no walls, and the open-air platform which has no roof or walls. The open-air nature of the dance pavilion was both a feature and

1850-477: The facility's main attraction was its artificial ice surface, unrivaled in North America . Most other American cities lacked a facility that produced artificial ice at the time. And with 26,000 square feet of ice surface at the Garden, was nearly 50 feet longer than the modern-day rinks in the National Hockey League (NHL) and had state-of-the-art refrigeration and resurfacing technology. On January 24, 1899,

1900-824: The first being the Hammersmith Palais in London , opened in 1919. Dance halls, also termed palais de danse, became popular in Australia too, such as the Palais de Danse and the Wattle Path Palais de Danse , both in St Kilda , Melbourne , Victoria. In Sweden and Finland, open air dance pavilions have been used mostly in summer, but especially in Finland some have also been built to be used throughout

1950-565: The first professional league officially formed. The Pittsburgh Professionals joined Canadian Soo , Michigan Soo, Calumet Miners, and the Portage Lakes Hockey Club to form the IPHL in 1904. However, after the 1906–07 season , other professional leagues began popping up and the IPHL disbanded, while the WPHL was revived until 1909. During this era, Garnet Sixsmith , who played on several Pittsburgh teams, once scored 11 goals in

2000-584: The funds to compete in the Olympics and refused to approve any other team. As a result, the United States did not have an Olympic hockey team in 1928. In 1930, the USAHA was dissolved and the AAU took control of ice hockey. USAHA players were predominantly Canadians , with the St. Paul and Duluth teams being the exceptions. Rosters were typically small and ranged from nine to twelve players, and teams did not usually have an alternate goaltender. Notable players from

2050-469: The lack of suitable ice for the whole season since most teams played on natural outdoor ice surfaces instead of arenas. The Minneapolis Arena , and the Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh were the largest rinks at the time. The association also struggled with attendance figures due to the varying arena capacities. Although league play ceased in 1925, the USAHA continued to oversee amateur hockey in

Duquesne Gardens - Misplaced Pages Continue

2100-640: The opportunity to step outside of their extremely stressful home and work environments while not costing too much, or anything in some cases. These city dance halls were especially popular with newly independent immigrant women from more rural areas as country-side dances were often more closely monitored and tended to host styles of dancing that were considered more socially acceptable for performance in public spaces. The styles performed in city dance halls had dancing partners physically close, performing movements that would allow for limbs and body parts to graze each other in ways not seen in other partnered dance forms of

2150-419: The time. Although interests in dance halls were growing, halls attracted negative attention from moral reformers and the media for the types of dancing done at these establishments, the sexual independence these environments allowed women, and the difficulty of regulating dance halls. Simple dance moves were already seen as morally wrong by select religious groups prior to the popularity of dance halls but with

2200-400: The title in a best of five series, 3 games to none with one tie. In 1925, the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates team of the NHL was assembled by signing players from the Yellow Jackets to professional contracts. The Pirates were admitted to the NHL on November 7, 1925. Around this time, the Garden's massive ice surface was reduced to conform to the NHL's standards. Pittsburgh's first-ever NHL game

2250-479: The year. Formerly, the dance pavilions were often built at sites with beautiful landscape, for example by the lakes. The Sivakan lava dance pavilion in Sivakkavaara, Kaavi , Finland has a history of more than a hundred years, as according to some sources, dances have been held on pavilion since 1907. United States Amateur Hockey Association The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA)

2300-421: Was an ice hockey governing body in the United States from 1920 to 1930, which operated an amateur league from 1920 to 1925. The league was filled with predominantly Canadian-born players, but struggled to achieve consistent attendance figures in the days before large arenas with artificial ice. The league disbanded in 1925, with some teams eventually joining the American Hockey Association , and one team joining

2350-477: Was demolished in 1956 to make way for an apartment building and a local fixture, Stouffer's Restaurant. Stouffer's, which became Duranti's Restaurant in 1979, featured the only remaining evidence of the Gardens, two 11-foot wide sections of exposed red brick wall, which would have been the back wall of the Gardens' visiting dressing room. Duranti's then closed in December 2008 and the apartment building that replaced

2400-500: Was grouped into eastern and western divisions. In 1922, an annual post-season series was arranged for the USAHA champion to play the senior hockey champion of the CAHA for the Hamilton B. Wills Trophy , but no such series was played for various reasons. In 1923, the USAHA and the CAHA negotiated an agreement to govern the migration of senior hockey players between the associations. Persistent disagreements on player movements between

2450-611: Was played on December 2, 1925, with the Pirates taking on the New York Americans in front of 8,200 fans. The Pirates lost the game in overtime, 2–1. By 1930, financial issues, associated with the Great Depression caused the Pirates to relocate to Philadelphia , before folding. What helped make the city such a hotbed for hockey in the early part of the century, the Duquesne Garden, ultimately helped doom

2500-621: Was sold in 1963 for $ 5.5 million. Harris also used the Gardens for Ice Capades auditions and as the show's training school, since many of the show's performers were from western Pennsylvania. Then on October 4, 1936, Harris purchased the Detroit Olympics and moved the team to Pittsburgh, where they were renamed the Pittsburgh Hornets, and became a member of the American Hockey League . Some players from

#932067