Edgerton Park Arena

Edgerton Park Arena was an indoor arena in Rochester, New York. The building was originally constructed in 1892 as the drill hall for a training school for delinquent boys. When the school moved in the early part of the 20th century the building was turned into an indoor sports arena and exhibition hall. An artificial ice-making system was installed in 1935.
The first professional team to use the building was the Rochester Cardinals hockey team in 1935-36. The Cardinals played in the International Hockey League and were a farm team of the New York Americans of the National Hockey League. Rochester could have been a charter member of the International-American Hockey League which formed in the summer of 1936 upon the merger of the I.H.L. and the Canadian-American Hockey Leagues. However, the Cardinals went into receivership before the end of the 1935-36 season and no suitable owner could be found to continue to operate the team. Also the arena sat only 3,500 for hockey and officials of the new league wanted a minimum seating capacity of at least 5,000 fans. The City of Rochester, the arena's owners, refused to expand the building. The refusal to expand the building meant Rochester would have to wait until the Community War Memorial Arena (now Blue Cross Arena) opened in 1955 to join the American Hockey League. Rochester was awarded a new franchise in the American Hockey League in 1956 after Pittsburgh withdrew. The Rochester Americans began play in the 1956-57 season.
Category:Indoor ice hockey venues in New York