St. Louis Arena
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St. Louis Arena (also known as the Checkerdome) was a historic indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri. The arena was completed in 1929 to host the annual National Dairy Exposition. It sat 20,000 for ice hockey, one of the larger arenas of its day. It was the home of the St. Louis Eagles of the NHL from 1934-1935, the St. Louis Blues of the NHL from 1967-1994, the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA from 1974-1976, and the Saint Louis University basketball team from 1968-1973 and 1978-1982. It was also the occasional home of the St. Louis Hawks of the NBA - who usually played at the smaller Kiel Auditorium - from 1955-1968. The Chicago Blackhawks also played a few home games each year at the arena during the 1950s. The arena was also the site of numerous conventions, concerts, political rallies, horse shows, indoor soccer and boxing matches and other events.
The arena was mostly home to the National Dairy Exposition and other conventions. The building was not well kept up and had to be heavily renovated when the Blues began playing in 1967. It was abandoned after the Savvis Center was opened in 1994. The arena remained vacant for nearly five years until its demolition through a controlled implosion on February 27, 1999.