RECOMMEND
 ADD COMMENT  READ COMMENTS (0)  PRINT  EMAIL  SHARE  THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA
0 people recommend this
Maple Leaf Gardens. Downtown Toronto arena, home of the famed Maple Leaf hockey team and venue for other sports and entertainment activities. Designed by Ross & Macdonald with associates Jack Ryrie and Mackenzie Waters, it was built in 1931 at a cost of about $1.5 million on the northwest corner of Carlton and Church streets. Originally it held 13,000 persons for hockey and 16,000 for other events. Renovations and alterations over the years increased the capacity to more than 16,000 for hockey and more than 18,000 for concerts.


Keywords
Musical Venues

The arena has been the site of opera (the Canadian Grand Opera Company's Faust in 1936 and the Metropolitan Opera's visiting productions 1952-60), programs by Toronto's ethnic communities (eg, Johnny Lombardi's festivals of song, which present Italian singers), and the annual Metropolitan Toronto Police concerts.

Beginning in the 1960s, it was the venue for virtually all of the city's major indoor rock and pop concerts until the SkyDome was opened in 1989. Among the artists and bands that have appeared at the Gardens are the Beatles, New Kids on the Block, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, the Who, and Neil Young. Toronto's Max Webster, Kim Mitchell, Rush, and Triumph also have headlined there. Through an unwritten agreement the arena was effectively the exclusive domain 1974-89 of Concert Productions International. After a hiatus 1989-90 CPI resumed its activities at the Gardens on a less exclusive basis.


Toronto Maple Leafs
The official program from the Toronto Maple Leafs' first game at Maple Leaf Gardens on 12 November 1931 (public domain).

Feature Articles
Invention of Standard Time
Time waits for no man… and neither do trains...
MOST READ ARTICLES
Trudeau, Pierre Elliott
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ...
Great Depression
Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ...
Riel, Louis
Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ...
MOST RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Group of Seven
The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. The original members - ...
Macdonald, Sir John Alexander
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, lawyer, businessman, politician, first prime minister of Canada (b at Brunswick Place, ...
Great Depression
Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ...
MOST COMMENTED ON ARTICLES
Ware, John
John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ...
Créditistes
Créditistes, Québec party involved in federal politics. For nearly 2 decades before its 1958 formation ...
LaMarsh, Julia Verlyn
Julia Verlyn LaMarsh, "Judy," lawyer, politician, broadcaster, novelist (b at Chatham, Ont 20 Dec 1924; d at ...
newsletter subscription
* E-mail:
join us on facebook twitter
WIRE BLOG
Canada's Many Heroes and Heroines
by FRANCES CATION
WIRE BLOG
Welcome to the Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War Project blog!
by JENNA ZUSCHLAG MISENER
WIRE BLOG
Silence and Remembering
by JAMES MARSH
WIRE BLOG
A Message From George Brady
by CHRISTINA L
WIRE BLOG
The making of Hana's Suitcase by Director Larry Weinstein
by LARRY WEINSTEIN
INSIDE TCE
Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA
Rimouski, Que
Rimouski, Que. City situated on the south shore of the St Lawrence River, 300 kilometres east of Quebec City. The name, meaning 'moose sanctuary,' comes from the Micmac language. It was initially settled at the end of the 17th ...


Who's Who at TCE    |    Our Partners The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2009 Historica-Dominion Copyright Information