The St. Louis Coliseum was a venue in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. The closing of the 1904 World's Fair left the city without a convention center for three years. A group of businessmen led by attorney Guy Golterman assembled $450,000 in private funding, and built the Coliseum at Washington and Jefferson Avenues. It was designed by Frederick C. Bonsack and occupied a full block. When the

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid on August 22, 1908, it was claimed the building would be the largest public building in the United States.Lay Cornerstone of St. Louis Coliseum - New York Times - August 23, 1908
/ref> It replaced the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall as the city's main convention and big entertainment center. Golterman was the Secretary to the company and first manager of the Coliseum. Colonel Pickering managed it for some time. The building accommodated the 1916 Democratic nominating convention, wrestling and boxing matches, trade shows, and musical extravaganzas.

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

performed in the Coliseum twice: first with the Metropolitan Opera Company in April 1910 and again in May 1919, giving a concert for Liberty Loans. Lack of parking, the emergence of neighborhood swimming pools, and Kiel Auditorium, which opened in 1934, effectively ended the usefulness of St. Louis Coliseum. It was closed in 1939, and it was condemned as unsafe by the city in 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Louis Coliseum Sports venues in St. Louis Defunct boxing venues in the United States Defunct indoor arenas in the United States Sports venues completed in 1908 1908 establishments in Missouri Defunct sports venues in Missouri 1953 disestablishments in Missouri Indoor arenas in Missouri Demolished buildings and structures in St. Louis Demolished sports venues in Missouri