ALLEN COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL COLISEUM

The 'Allen County War Memorial Coliseum' is a 13,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
It was originally built in 1952 for $3 million on the northwest corner of Fort Wayne's Johnny Appleseed Park. The coliseum was designed to seat 8,000 for hockey or 10,240 for basketball. A major revovation and expansion in 2002, which raised the coliseum's roof by 41 feet, increased the arena's seating capacity to 10,500 for hockey or music concerts and 13,000 for basketball.
The structure was designed by A. M. Strauss Architects for the Allen County, Indiana Commissioners. The coliseum was noted for its innovative use of a long-span, all-welded rigid steel frame, which at the time of construction in 1952 was the longest span for that technique.

Contents

Sports

Trivia

Related facilities

External links

Sports

It is home to the Fort Wayne Komets Ice hockey team, the IPFW men's basketball team and the Fort Wayne Fusion arenafootball2 team. In fall of 2007 it will be home to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League. [1]
The arena was home to the National Basketball Association's Fort Wayne Pistons from 1952 until the team's move to Detroit in 1957 and saw two NBA Finals, in 1955 and 1956, as well as the NBA All-Star Game in 1953. The arena was also home to the Fort Wayne Flames of the American Indoor Soccer Association in the mid-1980s; the team was also known as the Indiana Kick for a few seasons. IPFW hosted the 2000 NCAA Men's Division-I volleyball championship matches at the Coliseum; in addition, the 2000-02 Mid-Continent Conference men’s basketball tournaments were held there.

Trivia

To keep the ice frozen, there are ten miles of refrigeration pipes under the skating rink. When non-ice-skating events use the arena, a sectioned flooring surface is placed on top of the ice.
The grounds surrounding the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is home to the anchor from World War II's USS Indiana battleship. (The mast of that battleship is erected at Indiana University Bloomington's Memorial Stadium.)

Related facilities

Within the same building as the arena, the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum contains a 108,000-ft² (0.100-km²) exposition center that can host substantial trade shows and 5,000-guest major banquets.[2]. When there are no events in the arena, the exposition center's capacity can extend to a total of 175,000-ft² (0.162-km²). Adjacent to the east of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and on the same grounds is the Allen County Memorial Stadium, which is the home of the Fort Wayne Wizards minor-league baseball team.[3] Adjacent to the northeast is the IPFW campus, especially the portion of the IPFW campus that is on the western bank of the Saint Joseph River, on which IPFW is building a Holiday Inn hotel to serve the needs of the Memorial Coliseum, Memorial Stadium, and IPFW.[4]

External links

★ Official web site

★ 2002 construction details (PDF)

★ Timeline: Important Precedents in Stadium Design by Columbia University