Tulsa Coliseum
| Tulsa Coliseum | |
|---|---|
Tulsa Coliseum c. 1943 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Arena |
| Architectural style | "Saracenic" |
| Address | Fifth Street and Elgin Avenue |
| Town or city | Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 36°09′10″N 95°59′06″W / 36.15278°N 95.98500°W |
| Opened | January 1, 1929 |
| Cost | $800,000 |
| Owner |
|
| Height | 48 ft |
| Dimensions | |
| Other dimensions | 160 feet (49 m) across x 300 feet (91 m) long x 48 feet (15 m) high |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Smith and Senter |
| Main contractor | W. S. Bellows |
| Other information | |
| Seating capacity |
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The Tulsa Coliseum was an indoor arena built in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the corner of Fifth Street and Elgin Avenue. It hosted the Tulsa Oilers ice hockey team from 1929 to 1951. Many other sporting events were held at the facility including rodeos, track meets, professional wrestling, and boxing matches. The building was destroyed by fire in 1952.
Walter Whiteside, a wealthy native of Duluth, Minnesota who was attracted to Tulsa by the oil boom during the 1920s, partnered with W. S. Stryker to form the Magic City Amusement Company. The partnership commissioned noted Tulsa architect Leon Senter to design an indoor arena for the city in 1928. Whiteside, evidently the driving force of the partnership envisioned using the arena to present a variety of public entertainments, including such wintertime sports as ice hockey and ice shows, for which there were no suitable venues south of the Mason-Dixon Line. He even organized the Tulsa Oilers, the first Tulsa Hockey team.