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Civic Arena Opens in Pittsburgh
September 17th, 1961 the Civic Arena was offically open. The arena was located in downtown Pittsburgh and often referred to as the "Igloo" of the city. It was designed for the use of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, but would also lead to hosting many other entertainment options throughout the years. The civic Arena was also the first major sports complex with a retractable roof. -
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Civic Arena History
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Ice Capades was the first event to be held in the Civic Arena
"10 great shows on Ice" was what the Ice Capades were known as because there were ten shows within the performance! It included DisneyRama with all kinds of Disney characters ice skating! -
First Roof Opening
The first opening of the roof was for the Carol Burnett show where she made a joke to the audience saying "Ladies and Gentlemen...I present the sky!". -
Beetles play at the Civic Arena
The British invasion happened in Pittsburgh in 1964 as the Beatles played in front of 12,603 screaming fans in the Civic Arena. -
Civic Arena Becomes the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Civic Arena becomes the offical home for the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL Franchise. -
Pittsburgh Penguins Win Their 1st Stanley Cup
The Pittsburgh Penguins won their first Stanley Cup against the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 in the Civic Arena on May 25, 1991. -
Roof Permantely closes
Even though it was designed and engineered as a retractable-roof dome, the hydraulic jacks never functioned consistently, thus keeping the roof permanently closed after 1994. Opening the roof required two days of preparation to take down the steel cables. After the huge center Jumbotron was installed in 1995 the roof could no longer be opened as it supported the scoreboard.. The roof still worked. -
Civic Arena to be renamed as Mellon Arena
The Penguins won the Civic Arena naming rights when Mario Lemieux took control of team in bankruptcy court in 1999. In search of sponsorship revenue the name of the Civic Arena was sold by the Penguins for $18 million to the Mellon Financial Group. The arena was renamed to Mellon Arena -
The Civic Arena closes
It was a sad day when the civic arena closed its doors for the last time on June 26, 2010 and Consol Energy was built right next door to it. -
Civic Arena is demolished
Demolition for the arena began September 26, 2011 and was completed March 31, 2012. Pieces of the arena were saved and created a lot of memorabilia for people to purchase as a keep sake.
