The Chicago Coliseum – 1912

From the Library of Congress – Photo taken at the 1912 Republican National Convention held at the Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois, June 18-22.

The Coliseum was home to the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team during the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1962 an NBA expansion team, the Zephyrs, called the Coliseum home until they moved to Baltimore in 1963 and became the Bullets and eventually the Wizards. Without a major tenant in the mid-60s and throughout the 1970s it primarily became a venue for rock concerts until it fell in such disrepair that it was demolished in 1982.

The facade of the Chicago Coliseum was part of the old Libby Civil War Prison that originally stood in Richmond, Virginia. Part of this facade was given to the Chicago History Museum.

Here is some 1929 footage of what appears to be an exhibition between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Shamrocks:

Tagged as: 1912, chicago, chicago architecture, chicago blackhawks, chicago coliseum, chicago shamrocks