The Roseau Memorial Arena Receives National Historic Landmark Designation

by Ryan Honl

The older part of the Roseau Memorial Arena made its way onto the National Register of Historic Places. The Department of the Interior sent a letter to the city granting the designation on November 5. The older part of the arena has the iconic arched ceiling built in 1949. It's always been a local treasure providing the complete hockey experience with the atmosphere of its historic significance. Now it's officially a national treasure.

The designation provides several benefits. First and most importantly it provides state and federal grants for renovations and improvements. The newspaper spoke with Roseau Community Development Coordinator Todd Peterson about the work of obtaining the new status.

"It's a process," Peterson said. "We've been working on it for almost two years now."

"Some of the rationale was because it is a unique building, probably one of the oldest still operating as it was originally built other than I think Hibbing and maybe the Eveleth Hippodrome I think are both older," he continued. "But otherwise there just aren't many of these old time arenas left. It's got some unique history and we've got a lot of projects we want to do."

One of those projects is renovating and protecting the roof which has seen some water damage due to being artificially heated causing moisture build up. The renovations will help to address that. They will replace the shingles to a rubber style roof looking like when it was originally built. There's a grant of $250,000 for that. There are also additional smaller grants for that project. The city will cover the cost of about 2/3rds in loans.

The city hired a historian out of the Twin Cities. He did a lot of research and in writing up the application for the new status. The application includes having to state the case as to why a building is historically significant. The state reviews the application. It was unanimously put forward by the state to the federal government for consideration. The Department of Interior letter of November 5 closed out the process.

According to local history archives, the city has owned and operated the arena since it was built in 1949. Previous to that, there have been places to gather to play hockey since at least 1908.

One picture from that time shows a few guys lined up playing hockey in an outdoor makeshift arena at the spot where the current arena now lies.

The first hockey arena for the city was built in the current spot in 1912. That building was then torn down after a storm blew the roof off in the summer of 1943 making way for the current building that was built in 1949.

There were additions added to the arena over the years. Originally it had the rink along with seating and that was it. In the 1950's a lobby area was added that continues to exist today. You can start seeing the history of the old building coming into that lobby with all the plaques, photos, and trophies going back in time.

According to the Roseau Youth Hockey website, Memorial Arena has witnessed some of Minnesota's greatest hockey players including Olympic and NHL stars as well as playing host to 7 State High School Championship Teams, 34 State Tournament Teams and the Stanley Cup.

Originally when the current arena was built there was an outdoor arena where the current enclosed North Rink stands. And of course today, Roseau also has the newer Rams Center on the east side of town.

But the original enclosed arena area with the arched wooden ceiling provides quite an experience. Everyone who's grown up or lived in Roseau has an arena story. One of those folks with the most interesting story about the arena is Dr. Bob Harris who is about to turn 96. He was there in the 1940s and involved in the organizing and building of the arena. He spoke about the experience and shared some facts to add to its history.

"I've got a picture of the original arena they built in 1912 that blew down in 1943," Bob said. "The village fathers formed a committee. They began with volunteers. They started in about 1946 after we won the state tournament."

He spoke about the big summer storm and aftermath that brought down the previous arena.

"They cut up the roof sections into squares about eight feet high," he said. "They put the ice sheet right back down where it was in the arena. They used the kickboards for the ice sheet. They put up a row of wind breaks around the arena by cutting up the damaged roof. From 1944 to 1946 we played outdoor hockey."

The arena today goes east and west. The one built in 1912 was north and south at the same spot.

"Norm Flagstad was kind of a leader and Rudy Rice," Bob continued talking about the oldtimers that helped with the teardown after the storm and building of the new 1949 arena. "They bought those beams out in Oregon. They still look brand new. I hate to leave out anybody else but I can't think of the names but it would be owners of retail businesses downtown. Maybe Barney Ross. Maybe Ray Gilbertson. He was the linotype operator at the Roseau Times-Region. He could type like crazy! It was just many hundreds of people that came to clean up the mess (after the storm). The ladies aid from the churches joined together and they were cooking coffee and donuts for the people to keep working. The ice sheet was fixed up right before freeze up. We were ready to go with natural ice."

The Twin Cities historian who filed the application for historic status confirmed what Bob spoke about. In the application it notes that at least 500 people helped build the arena with help from local businesses. Bob says his best experiences today of the arena is sitting with people and visiting and speaking to them about the history while pointing out the original wooden beams.

The arena was built about 40 feet shorter than what's there now. They extended it later in the 1950s. About 12 more beams were found to match the original ones. The basement and locker rooms were damaged by the big flood so in 2004 the arena underwent a significant renovation to upgrade all of the mechanical compressor systems and rink components. It seats about a thousand people and provides full arena seating, a sound system, scoreboard, locker rooms, and concessions area. People already come to the arena partly because of its historical significance but with the new national historic designation there will certainly be many more people checking it out in the years to come. Local citizens can now rest assured that Roseau Memorial Arena will be taken care of well beyond any of their lifetimes.