Victoria Skating Rink (Montreal)
Opened on December 24, 1862, in Montreal’s Golden Square Mile, the Victoria Skating Rink was at once a fashionable social gathering place, a sporting centre, and a versatile cultural venue. Military concerts, exhibitions, and public events took place alongside skating and hockey. On March 3, 1875, the rink hosted the first structured indoor hockey game, an event now associated with the birth of modern hockey. Beginning in 1884, its electric lighting further strengthened its status as a showcase of technological innovation in Montreal.
1. Overview
The Victoria Skating Rink ranks among the most important sites in the history of nineteenth-century sport in Montreal. Its vast ice surface, elevated promenade, and facilities quickly made it one of the principal centres of winter social life for the anglophone bourgeoisie of the Golden Square Mile.
But the Victoria was never merely a skating rink. From its earliest years, the building hosted military concerts, balls, horticultural exhibitions, charitable events, and various public gatherings. Its large interior could be transformed according to the season and the event.
Its role in the history of hockey, however, gave the rink its international reputation. On March 3, 1875, James George Aylwin Creighton organized a structured game there that became one of the foundational events in the history of modern hockey.
2. Construction and Opening
In 1862, the Victoria Skating Club undertook the construction of a vast covered skating rink. The building measured approximately 250 feet long by 100 feet wide and contained an ice surface measuring roughly 204 × 80 feet. A promenade and areas for spectators surrounded the ice.
The Montreal Gazette described the new structure as one of the most elegant buildings erected in the city. Its architecture and dimensions quickly helped establish the Victoria as a prestigious gathering place.
The inaugural evening took place on December 24, 1862. An announcement published the previous day in the Montreal Herald and Daily Commercial Gazette stated that music would be provided by the 47th Regiment Band.
December 24, 1862
Opening Night
The new rink opened that evening in a brilliantly illuminated building. The 47th Regiment Band accompanied this first major public gathering, immediately helping to establish the Victoria’s fashionable reputation.
3. Early Years and Social Life
Between 1862 and 1865, the Victoria rapidly became a genuine winter salon. Evening skating sessions, masquerade balls, artistic competitions, charitable events, and university activities followed one another within the building.
Its proximity to the Golden Square Mile helped attract patrons from Montreal’s affluent anglophone circles. Skating became as much a social activity as a sporting pursuit, and evenings at the Victoria became an integral part of the city’s fashionable social life.
4. Military Concerts
By 1863, the Victoria Skating Rink had also emerged as a musical venue. Military bands performed during certain skating sessions and regularly appeared inside the building.
Contemporary advertisements mention, among others, the 16th Regiment, the Prince’s Band, and the 47th Regiment Bugle Band. This musical presence strengthened the rink’s connection with the British garrison while also establishing the Victoria as a cultural venue in its own right.
1863
A Skating Rink That Also Served as a Concert Hall
On February 20, 1863, the 16th Regiment Band was advertised at the Victoria. Three days later, the Prince’s Band performed there, while the 47th Regiment Bugle Band was advertised for March 16.
5. Horticultural Exhibitions and Summer Uses
When the skating season ended, the large interior of the Victoria Skating Rink allowed the building to accommodate other activities. The rink could therefore be transformed into a multipurpose exhibition hall.
In August 1863, it hosted a major horticultural exhibition advertised as being open to all of Canada. Fruit, flowers, vegetables, songbirds, competitions, and agricultural displays occupied the former skating space.
This seasonal transformation perfectly illustrates the versatility of the Victoria at a time when Montreal still possessed relatively few large public halls capable of accommodating major gatherings.
Major Milestones in the History of the Victoria Skating Rink
6. The First Hockey Game
On March 3, 1875, James George Aylwin Creighton organized a game at the Victoria Skating Rink that now occupies a fundamental place in the history of hockey.
For this match, the players were divided into defined teams, a referee was appointed, and a wooden disk was used instead of a ball, reducing the risk to spectators within the confined space of the rink.
An account published the following day in the Montreal Gazette documented the match. The event is now generally recognized as the first structured indoor hockey game and as a major milestone in the development of modern hockey.
March 3, 1875
A Birthplace of Modern Hockey
The game organized by James Creighton at the Victoria Skating Rink helped formalize a sport that had previously been much less standardized. The rink consequently became inseparable from the international history of hockey.
7. Electrification of the Victoria Rink
The Victoria Skating Rink also witnessed the major technological transformations taking place in Montreal during the 1880s.
On February 1, 1884, the Montreal Star announced that the American Electric and Illuminating Company had been commissioned to illuminate both the interior and exterior of the building. By September, an advertisement in the Montreal Herald already described the rink as being illuminated by electricity.
On January 26, 1885, the Montreal Herald reported that lighting was now being provided by the Royal Electric Company. This modernization placed the Victoria among the early major Montreal buildings to make regular use of this new technology.
8. The Development of Hockey
The relationship between the Victoria Skating Rink and hockey continued well beyond the game of 1875. The Montreal Victorias established themselves there in 1881, further strengthening the building’s sporting identity.
In 1886, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC), the first major organized Canadian hockey league, was founded in Montreal.
In 1894, the Victoria also hosted games associated with the early Stanley Cup playoffs. The dimensions of its ice surface had a lasting influence on the development of rink standards in North America.
“Guess who might have hung the flags and garlands when the Victoria Skating Rink hosted the very first Stanley Cup final in March 1894? My great-grandfather, Philorum Simard, was then working as a decorator for Maison Beulac, a company specializing in the organization and decoration of major Montreal festivities in the late nineteenth century.”
9. Decline and Disappearance
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the emergence of more modern skating rinks equipped with artificial refrigeration systems gradually reduced the Victoria’s importance.
After more than six decades of activity, the building closed in 1925. The old rink was demolished soon afterward, removing from Montreal’s urban landscape one of the most important sites in the history of Canadian sport.
A commemorative plaque now recalls the former presence of the Victoria Skating Rink and its role in the international history of hockey.
10. Historical Significance
The Victoria Skating Rink occupies a unique place in Montreal history because it brought together sport, music, culture, social life, and technological innovation under one roof.
Its importance extends far beyond the history of hockey. The military concerts, horticultural exhibitions, balls, and public events held there demonstrate how the great skating rinks of the nineteenth century could also function as genuine performance venues and multipurpose halls.
Within the history of venues documented by MCPA, the Victoria therefore represents a remarkable example of a Montreal space whose original function — skating — quickly expanded to encompass music, public gatherings, and various forms of entertainment.
MCPA Perspective
Much More Than a Skating Rink
The Victoria Skating Rink belongs as much to the history of Montreal entertainment and social life as it does to the history of sport. Its musical programming, exhibitions, and major public gatherings made it an important multipurpose cultural space in Victorian Montreal.
11. Notes & Sources
-
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
December 20, 1862 —
“Victoria Skating Rink.”
MCPA use: description of the construction, dimensions of the building and ice surface, and contemporary assessment of the architectural elegance of the rink. Additional sources: Holman, Canada’s Game; McGill Archives. -
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
February 3, 1863 —
“Skating at the Victoria.”
MCPA use: fashionable attendance, social practices, and the role of the Victoria Skating Rink as a centre of winter social life in the Golden Square Mile. -
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
December 25, 1862 —
“Opening of the New Rink.”
MCPA use: confirmation of the December 24, 1862 opening and description of the inaugural evening. -
MONTREAL HERALD AND DAILY COMMERCIAL GAZETTE,
December 23, 1862 — public notice announcing
the opening.
MCPA use: announcement of the inaugural evening, mention of the 47th Regiment Band, admission conditions, and opening hours. -
THE GAZETTE,
March 12, 1925 —
“Old Victoria Rink to Be Demolished.”
MCPA use: documentation of the closing and demolition of the Victoria Skating Rink. -
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
March 4, 1875 —
“A Game of Hockey.”
MCPA use: contemporary account of the March 3, 1875 match, including its rules, course of play, and reception by the public. -
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
February–March 1863 — various advertisements.
MCPA use: military concerts performed by the 16th Regiment Band, Prince’s Band, and 47th Regiment Bugle Band. -
MONTREAL GAZETTE,
August 26, 1863 —
“PRIZES OPEN TO ALL CANADA….”
MCPA use: documentation of the summer horticultural exhibition and the building’s multipurpose use. -
RÉMILLARD & MERRETT, 1999;
LOVELL’S DIRECTORY, various years.
MCPA use: urban context and documentation relating to the Golden Square Mile. -
COLEMAN (1966);
PODNIEKS;
HOCKEY CANADA ARCHIVES.
MCPA use: Montreal Victorias, the founding of the AHAC, and the early Stanley Cup playoffs. -
THE MONTREAL STAR,
February 1, 1884;
MONTREAL HERALD,
September 11, 1884;
January 26, 1885.
MCPA use: documentation of the gradual electrification of the Victoria Skating Rink. -
NOTMAN PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES (McCord);
BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES NATIONALES DU QUÉBEC;
MCPA COLLECTION (2024).
MCPA use: iconographic sources documenting the architecture and uses of the Victoria Skating Rink. -
ALAIN SIMARD, 2010,
Je rêvais d’un festival,
Les Éditions La Presse, pp. 19–20.
MCPA use: personal account concerning Philorum Simard and the decoration of major public festivities in Montreal.
