St. Paul Hippodrome

The St. Paul Hippodrome was an indoor arena located in St. Paul, Minnesota. The arena opened in 1906 at a price of $100,000. The facility was home to the Hippodrome Skating Club of the Twin Cities and the St. Paul Athletic Club. The St. Paul team captured the MacNaughton Cup in 1915 and went to the national finals in 1922 and 1923. The arena itself contained the largest indoor ice sheet in the world at 270'x119'. The arena had natural ice which was frozen when all the doors and windows in the facility were opened and the natural cold would freeze the ice.
During World War II the building was leased to the government and converted into a propeller plant. The facility was badly damaged during the conversion and was deemed unsafe for use. The facility was torn down in 1946. The arena was replaced with a new Hippodrome (which was renamed the State Fair Livestock Coliseum) in 1951 at a cost of $1.2 million.
The arena served as a home arena for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's hockey team from 1923 to 1934.
Category:Indoor ice hockey venues in Minnesota
Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers