The 114-year-old building appears destined for the wrecking ball.
There are not too many sports venues left from 1910 and that list is about to be shortened. Northeastern University wants to tear down the 114-year-old Boston or Matthews Arena and replace it with a 21st century state of the art facility. The 1910 built arena was the home of National Hockey League’s 1924 expansion team, the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics of the newly established Basketball Association of America in 1946. Northeastern University has marketed the building as “the world’s oldest multi-purpose athletic building” and home to the “world’s oldest artificial ice sheet.” On March 22nd, 1911, the Montréal Wanderers and Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association played the first of a two-game series in the new Boston arena. Two National Hockey League teams can trace their origins to the building, the Boston Bruins and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes franchise began operations in the World Hockey Association as the New England Whalers in 1972. That franchise moved to Hartford in 1974 and joined the National Hockey League in 1979. The renamed Hartford Whalers remained in the city until 1997 when the franchise was relocated to North Carolina.
Northeastern University became the owner of the arena in 1979 and uses the facility for college hockey and college basketball games. The school sent a letter to the Boston Planning and Development Agency outlining construction plans for a new athletic facility. The university plans to build a 290,000-square-foot facility complete with an arena and a fieldhouse with turf, basketball courts and other facilities. The Matthews Arena also played a part in the early days of Rock and Roll. On May 3rd, 1958, a riot broke out in the arena during an Alan Freed ‘Big Beat’ Rock n Roll” show. Freed was arrested and the Boston Mayor John Hynes then banned Rock and Roll shows in Boston.
It is almost time to say goobye to the 114-year old building.
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