History
The site was originally the family-owned fruit orchard of Harold and Ralph Wampler.The name stems from HA from Harold and RA from Ralph. In 1956, the Wampler Ballarena was erected, which still stands today in the six-building complex. The arena itself opened in 1964. The original plans did not include an ice rink, but were changed to accommodate the Dayton Gems who were looking for a home arena. The complex now spans 165,000 square feet (15,300 m2) which consists of the main arena, four exhibition halls, a conference center, a pub and a golf course.
This arena is where Wayne Gretzky played his first professional hockey game; a pre-season game between the Indianapolis Racers and the Cincinnati Stingers, on September 27, 1978.
Read more about this topic: Hara Arena
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)