Jubilee Arena was a small indoor ice rink in Montreal, Quebec, built in 1909 at the corner of rue St. Catherine Est and rue Alphonse-D. Roy Street. Owned by P. J. Doran, the modest 3,200-seat venue became an unlikely flashpoint in professional hockey history during its brief ten-year existence.
The arena hosted the Montreal Canadiens for parts of two separate stints and gave the Montreal Wanderers a home for one season, but its real legacy was political: a dispute over moving a team into the building helped unravel the old Eastern Canada Hockey Association and clear the path for the National Hockey Association, the direct ancestor of today’s NHL.
- Montreal Canadiens played here 1909–1910 and 1918–1919. See every Canadiens arena →
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Opened: 1909
- Demolished: 1919 (destroyed by fire)
- Capacity: About 3,200 spectators
- Ice surface: Natural ice
- Teams: Montreal Canadiens (1909–1910, 1918–1919), Montreal Wanderers (1909–1911)
- Notable fact: Ownership dispute helped trigger the 1909 formation of the National Hockey Association
A Flashpoint in Hockey’s Founding
In November 1909, the Montreal Wanderers’ owner, who also controlled Jubilee Arena, announced plans to move his club into the smaller rink. The move angered rival owners in the Eastern Canada Hockey Association, and the ensuing power struggle led to the ECHA’s collapse and the creation of the National Hockey Association, the league that would evolve into the NHL just a decade later.
Despite its outsized role in that political drama, Jubilee Arena itself remained a modest facility, far smaller than the grand Montreal Arena that dominated the city’s hockey scene at the time.
Fire and a Quiet End
Jubilee Arena briefly housed the Montreal Canadiens again during the 1918–19 season after the Montreal Arena burned down the previous year. That reprieve didn’t last: on the afternoon of April 23, 1919, Jubilee Arena also caught fire and was destroyed.
The loss of two major rinks to fire within a year forced Montreal’s hockey clubs to regroup, and the Canadiens eventually settled into the newly built Mount Royal Arena when it opened in 1920.
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Jubilee Arena FAQs
Why is Jubilee Arena historically significant?
A 1909 dispute over moving the Montreal Wanderers into Jubilee Arena helped trigger the collapse of the Eastern Canada Hockey Association and the formation of the National Hockey Association, the forerunner of the NHL.
How did Jubilee Arena close?
It was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1919, just a year after a similar fire had destroyed Montreal’s larger Montreal Arena.
Which teams played at Jubilee Arena?
The Montreal Canadiens played there from 1909 to 1910 and again briefly in 1918–1919, while the Montreal Wanderers used it as their home rink from 1909 to 1911.
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