The Tulsa Coliseum was an indoor arena built in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the corner of Fifth Street and Elgin Avenue. It hosted the Tulsa Oilers ice hockey team from 1929 to 1951. Many other sporting events were held at the facility including rodeos, track meets, professional wrestling, and boxing matches. The building was destroyed by fire in 1952.

Walter Whiteside, a Minnesota millionaire, constructed it in 1928 at a cost of {{USD|800,000}}. Whiteside's family was successful in oil, mining and lumber. Whiteside himself was the owner of Douglas Oil Company.{{sfn|Gerkin|2014|p=}} The building opened on January 1, 1929, with skating displays by the Magic City Amusement Co. (also owned by Whiteside){{sfn|Gerkin|2014|p=}} and the first game of the new Tulsa Oilers, versus the Duluth Hornets.^[1] The facility boasted a $25,000 organ. The building was sold to Coliseum Corporation at a sheriff's sale in 1942 and later was sold to wrestling promoter Sam Avey in 1944^[1] for $185,000, and it was also known as Avey's Coliseum.{{sfn|Hornbaker|2007|p=280}}

The Oilers played in the American Hockey Association (AHA) from 1929 (1928–29 season) - 1942, and the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 1945 to 1951. The Oilers first disbanded in 1942, and were revived under the ownership of Avey in 1945.{{sfn|Hornbaker|2007|p=280}} The Oilers disbanded when the USHL disbanded in 1951.

Avey also owned the radio station KAKC, and it broadcast from the Coliseum basement.{{sfn|Hornbaker|2007|p=281}} On September 20, 1952, the building caught fire when it was struck by lightning.{{sfn|Hornbaker|2007|p=281}} The building’s wooden roof accelerated the fire.^[1]

References

• {{cite book |title=Hidden History of Tulsa |first=Steve |last=Gerkin |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=9781626195790 |ref=harv}}
• {{cite book |title=National Wrestling Alliance, The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling |first=Tim |last=Hornbaker |publisher=ECW Press |year=2007 |isbn=1-55022-741-6 |ref=harv}}

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