St. Louis Arena

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The St. Louis Arena (also known as The Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri.

After the demolition in 1907 of the Exposition Hall, St. Louis lacked an indoor venue for circuses, band concerts, and other large attractions. Nothing was done to remedy this situation until 1928 when the National Dairy Show offered the city the opportunity to become the permanent location for its annual two-week-long meeting of dairymen and their prize animals. With no public funds available, a group of businessmen secured private funding for what was projected as a $2 million building. The National Exposition Company in charge of the project hired Gustav R. Kiewit as architect and the Boaz-Kiel Construction Company as general contractor.

Kiewit’s design called for a lamella roof upheld by twenty cantilever steel trusses. The lamella design consisted of Douglas fir ribs, 3.75 inches thick, 17.5 inches wide and fifteen feet long, fitted together diagonally giving the appearance of fish scales. Technological advances made it possible to construct the building with no view-obscuring internal support pillars. The huge structure was completed in just over a year. At 476 feet long and 276 feet wide it was, next to Madison Square Garden, the largest indoor entertainment space in the country. It was so large that a 13-story building could have been erected inside of it. The arena was completed in 1929.

The arena was also the site of numerous conventions, concerts, political rallies, horse shows, circuses, boxing matches, roller derby competitions, and other events such as the 1973 and 1978 NCAA men's basketball Final Four, as well as the NCAA Men's Midwest Regional finals in 1982, 1984 and 1993, and the 1992-94 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament. The arena was home to the Spirits of St. Louis of the American Basketball Association. Also, the 1975 NCAA Frozen Four was held there.

The Arena was not well maintained after the 1940s, and its roof was damaged in a February 1959 tornado. After a series of repairs, it would eventually be re-opened as the home of the Central Hockey League's St. Louis Braves. The facility had to be heavily renovated when the St. Louis Blues began playing there in 1967. Blues owner Sid Salomon Jr. purchased the Arena from the Chicago Blackhawks (who used it for occasional exhibition games), and spent several million dollars renovating the building. By opening night, the arena held almost 15,000 seats, up from 12,000 at the start of 1967. It never stopped being renovated from that day on, and held almost 20,000 seats by the time the Blues left the Arena in 1994. Many fans considered its sight lines the best of any arena in the country, which is remarkable considering that the Arena was not originally built for hockey.

In 1977, the Arena and the Blues were purchased by Ralston Purina, who rechristened the building as The Checkerdome to reflect the new ownership. By 1983, the cereal and pet food corporation had lost interest in the Blues and the Arena, and forfeited the team to the league. It was purchased by Harry Ornest, a Los Angeles-based businessman, who promptly returned the Arena to its original name.

As a condition for the private financing of the demolition of city-owned Kiel Auditorium and the construction of privately-owned Kiel Center (now the Scottrade Center) on the same Downtown site, local business group Civic Progress, Inc. insisted that the Dogtown-neighborhood Arena not be allowed to compete with Kiel Center for any events whatsoever, while leaving the insurance burden for the building with the City of St. Louis. With no income allowed for the Arena while insurance expenses continued, it sat vacant while pressure built on the city government to either make it revenue-producing (essentially impossible under the Civic Progress-imposed non-competitive clause) or raze it. The arena remained vacant for nearly five years. Public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of saving "the Old Barn" as it was affectionately nick-named, but when local artist Bob Cassily (founder of the private, non-profit City Museum) approached the city government with a $200,000 down payment in hand toward purchasing the building, Civic Progress pressured the city to instead force through a hurried demolition through a controlled implosion on February 27, 1999, in the direct face of popular opposition.

Sports teams that called the Arena home include:

• St. Louis Eagles of the NHL (1934-1935)
• St. Louis Braves of the CHL (1963-1967).
• St. Louis Blues of the NHL (1967-1994)
• St. Louis Hawks of the NBA (occasional use, 1955-1968)
• Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA (1974-1976)
• St. Louis Steamers of the MISL (1979-1988)
• St. Louis Storm of the MISL (1989-1992)
• St. Louis Ambush of the NPSL (1992-1994)
• Saint Louis University basketball team (1968-1971, 1975-1976, 1978-1982 and 1991-1994)
• St. Louis Vipers of RHI (1993-1994)

Preceded by first arena

Home of the St. Louis Blues 1967–1994

Succeeded by Scottrade Center (Kiel Center) 1994–present

Preceded by Milwaukee Arena 1951–1965

Occasional Home of the St. Louis Hawks 1955–1968

Succeeded by Alexander Memorial Coliseum 1968–1972

Preceded by Ottawa Arena 1923–1934

Home of the St. Louis Eagles 1934–1935

Succeeded by last arena

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