Hibbing, MN Memorial Building wants to Expand

Hibbing Minnesota is a small town but hosts many hockey events because of their very nice and convenient arena. Every year there is a big Christmas tournament that lots of teams in Minnesota come to. The Memorial Building is very busy and can use more than one rink. The town proposed an idea to the city council about buying all the nearby houses adjacent to the building and expanding to have another rink.

What the outside of the Memorial Building looks like.

Hibbing Memorial building has been around since 1925, so a couple years after the high school was built for the town. In December 1933, the Memorial Building was destroyed due to a fire and was rebuilt in 1935. It was the first iron range hocket center to have artificial ice and not natural ice. The Memorial Building hosted the NHL Chicago Blackhawks’ training camp at their arena. The arena has 3,460 permanent seats and standing room for 1,000 more which brings the total occupancy up to 4,460 spaces to be a fan.

The Memorial arena has been kept up to date as one of Hibbing’s most prioritized projects because it is so busy. The ice, glass, and boards are all updated every year as needed. Last year they updated the locker rooms for the boys’ and girls’ hockey teams.

Citizens of Hibbing are very indifferent about this idea. Obviously, the people living in the houses that would need to be bought and torn down are having a hard time deciding whether they want to do this. Although the decision is not completely on the homeowners, they have a big say on what will happen as well.

The rink would benefit our town more than just for hockey games. Having another rink will help with high school practices for Girls and Boys hockey and for figure skating. As of right now, figure skating is practicing at six in the morning before having to go to school for eight hours. The boy’s hockey team is practicing late due to the girls’ team practicing right after school. Having another rink will help these students get more rest and not have to be out so late or early in the day. An extra rink would also help with scheduling more home games evenly for boys’ and girls’ hockey.

I think a new rink addition to the Memorial Building would be a good idea for the town. It would benefit the high school sports and help with having more activities for the city of Hibbing.

The Memorial Building hosts lots of events in the summer as well. The circus comes to Hibbing every other year and that is where the show is. They also have a basketball floor that they can put down when the ice isn’t there to hosts basketball games as well. The building also rents out the space for weddings and receptions or grad parties and other large events. Having another rink will also bring in more revenue for the Memorial Building and have more space to do so.

The inside of the Memorial Building with basketball floor down.

I can also understand where other citizens of Hibbing are coming from that are opposed to the idea of expanding. There will be lots of people that will have to give up their homes and the city would also have to reconstruct the street to make the building bigger. As a whole project it will be a lot of work. I think if more people can get on board and realize this will do more for the town, the project will be a success.

Sources

https://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/813525-hibbing-memorial-building-