The William Allman Memorial Arena
Above: Waterloo Street Arena 1886-1924 fronted on Waterloo Street at the River Drive just southeast of the Waterloo Street bridge. Circa 1910. Photo Postcard: Stratford-Perth Archives.
Below: The grand old shrine. Photo: Stratford Warriors Hockey
The grand old shrine celebrates 100 years in 2024
Paul Wilker, Gord Conroy
The Classic City Arena built along Lakeside Drive in 1924 had artificial ice cooling facilities and in 1996 was renamed the William Allman Memorial Arena in honour of its long-time building manager.
The original Waterloo Street Arena with only natural ice where Howie Morenz, The Stratford Streak, once played was built in 1886. It was a mammoth building with an ice surface 200 feet by 89 feet used for skating, curling and hockey in the winter. It was bounded by Water Street, Waterloo Street South, and what is now referred to as Lakeside Drive. It fronted onto Waterloo Street and stretched to the east, parallel to Water Street. In the summer, it was used for dances, boxing matches and silent movies.
It was eventually enlarged by the addition of a curling rink which ran to the north off the hockey rink's east end. It never did have the insulation and ice plant to meet the increasing needs of hockey teams, recreational skaters and curlers, so in the early 1920s, a committee was formed to built a modern arena.
The Stratford Classic City Arena was built in 1924 in just 66 days. Its original main entrance was off North Street. When the new lobby area was built at the other (west) end of the rink on Nile Street in the 1950s, the main entrance was changed to the north end of Nile Street, which has since been renamed Morenz Drive. As mentioned, in 1996, the arena was renamed the William Allman Memorial Arena after its longtime building manager.
Dozens of banners now hang from its rafters in testimony to the championship seasons that have played out on its ice for almost a century. It has hosted title and trophy wins by teams at all levels. For more than half of its years it has been home to one of the most successful junior B franchises in Canada.
The arena is widely considered one of the finest old arenas in the country and has been used by numerous film and television crews for documentaries and commercials. It's interior is awash in colour. Bright red and blue wooden seats surround the ice surface. Polished dark hardwood floors ring the seating area. Most of the bricks and steel are painted in a whitewash. Signage is bright yellow and black, painted directly onto the brick outer walls. Banners and signs hang above the ice surface, but well below the roof line, which sits higher still with a gentle arch. The score clock, however, is relatively new.
The Allman seats 2,800 with standing area for 1,000 around the top row of seats. The ice surface is regulation size 190 feet by 85feet. The 1924 original wooden-bench seating for 3,500, without backs, was replaced but not until after the Stratford Indians fashioned some winning Ontario Hockey Association senior A seasons in the 1950s. The seating was changed but the ambiance maintained.
Players, officials and fans walking into the building for the first time are awestruck by its character and charm. Attending a junior B game featuring the Stratford Warriors (formerly Stratford Cullitons) is a wonderful part of hockey tradition. The list of NHLers who began their careers playing junior hockey in Stratford includes: Mark Bell, Rob Blake, Kevin Dahl, Louie DeBrusk, Greg de Vries, Boyd Devereaux, Nelson Emerson, Jeff Halpern, Rem Murray, Ed Olczyk, Mike Peluso, Chris Pronger, Garth Snow, Tim Taylor.
1924 will mark a century of use and celebrations are planned. Sources: Wikipedia and Stratford Warriors
About players and sports casters see Morenz DrivE