Sackville's first indoor skating rink was constructed in 1876 by Nelson Beckwith, Jr. [1] of Baie Verte, New Brunswick. It was a circular wooden structure located 200 feet from Main Street to the northeast of St. Paul's Anglican Church, in what is now a part of the Sackville Waterfowl Park. It had a 100 foot diameter round skating surface, 'Ladies' and 'Gentlemen' changing rooms, a single row of windows [2] and a cone-shaped roof. A crimson flag was raised from the top of the roof when conditions were favorable for skating. [3] The entrance to the rink was in the centre of a 30 foot extension that faced the church. Twelve wells located behind the rink were used to flood the ice surface. [4]
The rink's primary objective was to promote non-competitive recreational physical exercise and to enhance the morals of its patrons. [5] Students at Mount Allison were encouraged to purchase season tickets which for the first two seasons were: $3.50 ("Lady"), $4.50 ("Gentleman"), $7.50 ("Lady and Gentleman"), and $10 ("Family"). [6] A single evening promenade ticket cost 15 cents and did not allow admittance onto the ice. The rink had lamps installed in 1882 [7] but in 1886 was still open only during daylight hours. [8]
In 1889 management of the rink was taken over by the Mount Allison Rink Association [9]. The Association operated the facility until autumn 1893 [10] when the rink was destroyed by fire. [11]
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/1, page 66. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking northeast. Behind the skating rink to the right is the Carter House.
Mount Allison University Archives, [unprocessed accession], 2005.27. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking southwest. Behind the skating rink is St. Paul's Anglican Church, and behind that Mount Allison Ladies' College buildings (Conservatory of Music, Allison Hall, and Lingley Hall).
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, Picture Collection Folder 95. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/16, page 14. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
In 1895 brothers Hiram and Harvey Copp founded a door and sash business on the northeast corner of Weldon and Bridge streets. It was next to the Copp, Dixon & Co. woodworking factory in what is now the Sackville Memorial Park. That same year they laid the foundation for a rectangular skating rink behind their business.
The new rink was the first indoor rink suitable for hockey in Sackville. [12] It was formally opened on 6 January 1896, [13] the same date the Aberdeen skating and curling rink was opened in nearby Amherst, Nova Scotia. [14] Copp's Rink was equipped with electric lighting, [15] an improvement over the earlier Tantramar Skating Rink. The following year the Copp brothers built a curling rink next to their skating rink. [16]
On 26 June 1905 the Copp, Dixon & Co.'s woodworking factory burned down [17] but the curling and skating rinks did not catch fire. [18] However, in autumn 1905 the Copp brothers sold their property to Senator Josiah Wood [19], then mayor of Sackville, and built a new skating rink near their old property on Lorne Street. [20]
View looking northwest over Bridge Street. Directly above the skating rink, and slightly to the left, is St. Paul's Anglican Church. The curling rink is partially obscured by an unfinished wooden construction. Squire Street is in the foreground of the two rinks.
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/9/2/1, page 16, picture 4 of 4. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking southeast over Bridge Street. Photograph possibly taken from atop the former Methodist / United Church. Lorne Street visible at middle right. Roofs of Copp's curling and skating rinks are opposite Lorne Street, and are visible next to middle left hand edge.
Mount Allison University Archives, Wood Family fonds, accession 8914/1/15. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
In 1904 the Copp brothers abandoned their first curling rink on Weldon Street after building a second one on Main Street near the site of the current post office. [21] The new rink opened on 17 December 1904. [22]
Although intended for curling this rink was shorter but wider than their Weldon Street skating rink [23] and was used for recreational skating on Saturday evenings. [24] In January 1905 it had telephones installed. [25] The curling rink was used by Mount Allison students for recreational skating and hockey between 1915 and 1918 [26] and was even used by the University for an indoor track meet in December 1911. [27]
Photographer: Pridham Studio, Sackville, N.B. Two people identified, middle: White, A. Tristram; Archibald, Gwen. Note: in photograph are two hockey nets suspended from rafters.
Mount Allison University Archives, R.M. Burgess fonds, accession 8635. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking north. Curling rink is first building in background.
Mount Allison University Archives, Donald F. Taylor fonds, accession 7601/2/75. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
The second skating rink built by Hiram and Harvey Copp opened in January 1906 [28]. It was located near the southeast corner of Lorne and Bridge streets opposite their first rink. The ice surface measured 200 by 60 feet, with a six-foot-wide promenade on either side. [29] It was 40 feet longer than the nearest rink, the Aberdeen Rink in Amherst, Nova Scotia. [30] By 1907 the rink was sometimes referred to as "Copp & Dixon's Rink." [31] It was used regularly by Mount Allison students for hockey and recreational skating.
In 1915 the Mount Allison Amateur Athletic Association began renting the curling rink on Main Street [32] for recreational skating and hockey. The association used Copp & Dixon's Rink only periodically for hockey matches [33] before it collapsed as a result of heavy snow [34] in November 1918. [35] A new rink was built in December 1919 [36] on the east side of Lansdowne Street across from the Athletic Field. It was Mount Allison's first institutional skating rink [see below].
View looking northeast toward Bridge Street.
Mount Allison University Archives, Donald F. Taylor fonds, accession 7601/2/122. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking north. Mount Allison buildings in background, left-right: fourth University Gymnasium (built following destruction of Lingley Hall by fire); Athletic Field; second Men's University Residence; Centennial Hall; Owen's Art Gallery; Borden Hall; Conservatory of Music; Hart Hall; University Skating Rink; Fawcett Hall (current site of Marjorie Young Bell Convocation Hall).
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/104. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
[1] Argosy, vol. III, no. 3, Nov. 1876, [untitled], p. 39. Note: It cannot be determined if this is the same Nelson Beckwith who built the main Ladies’ College building in 1855
[2] Argosy, vol. III, no. 3, Nov. 1876, [untitled], p. 39 (for rink size, changing rooms, windows)
[3] Argosy, vol. III, no. 5, Jan. 1877, [untitled], p. 63
[4] Argosy, vol. III, no. 3, Nov. 1876, [untitled], p. 39
[5] Argosy, vol. III, no. 6, Jan. 1877, "Sackvilliana," p. 79 [month may be Feb.]
[6] Argosy, vol. III, no. 6, Jan. 1877 [month may be Feb.], last page [unnumbered]. Note: Argosy, vol. XIII, no. 5, Feb. 1886, [untitled], p. 56 says season pass still costs $3.50, but does not mention if price applies only for women
[7] [Sackville] Transcript, Jan. 19, 1882, "Local News," p. 3
[8] Argosy, vol. XIII, no. 4, Jan. 1886, Sackvilliana, p. 45
[9] Argosy, vol. XVIII, no. 4, Jan. 1889 (says 1888 - typo), [untitled], p. 49; Argosy, vol. XVIII, no. 5, Feb. 1889, [untitled], p. 66
[10] Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection Folder 95, back of photograph of Tantramar Skating Rink, donated by R.C. Archibald (for year and season); Argosy, vol. XXIII, no. 4, Jan. 1894, "Ladies' College Notes," p. 14 (mentions that the rink is missed)
[11] Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection Folder 95, back of photograph of Tantramar Skating Rink, donated by R.C. Archibald
[12] Argosy, vol. XXV, no. 5, Feb. 1896, p. 13
[13] Chignecto Post, Thursday, Jan. 9, 1896, "Local" (in article: “Messrs. H. and H. Copp opened their rink formally and successfully on Monday night”). Note: Chignecto Post, Dec. 19, 1895, "Local" says Copp brothers “expect to formally open [the rink] tonight.”
[14] Amherst Daily News, Jan. 7, 1896
[15] Chignecto Post, Dec. 19, 1895, "Local"
[16] E-mail from Donna Beal to Kip Jackson, Aug. 4, 2007
[17] [Sackville] Tribune, Jun. 26, 1905
[18] [Sackville] Tribune, Jun. 26, 1905
[19] [Saint John] Globe, Oct. 25, 1905, "Sackville News," [by A.D. Smith]
[20] [Saint John] John Globe, Oct. 25, 1905, "Sackville News," by A.D. Smith; Mount Allison University Archives, accession 7747, Goad Insurance Map, 1898-1914 (rinks visible on Weldon, new one built on Lorne)
[21] [Saint John] Globe, Mar. 9, 1904, "Sackville News," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/2/1, p. 55
[22] [Sackville] Tribune, Dec. 22, 1904, "Rink Openings," p. 5
[23] [Sackville] Tribune, Dec. 22, 1904, "Rink Openings," p. 5
[24] [Sackville] Tribune, Dec. 22, 1904, "Rink Openings," p. 5
[25] [Sackville] Tribune, Jan. 26, 1905, p. 6
[26] [Sackville] Tribune, Dec. 2, 1915: "In and Around old Mount A.," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/12, p. 189
[27] Argosy, vol. XXXVIII, no. 3, Dec. 1911, "Athletics," p. 170
[28] Argosy, vol. XXXII, no. 3, Dec. 1905, "Editorial," p. 152 (says rink will open after the holidays)
[29] Argosy, vol. XXXII, no. 3, Dec. 1905, "Editorial," pp. 150-3
[30] Amherst Daily News, Dec. 26, 1895, "The New Skating Rink," p. 2 (Aberdeen skating rink measured 160 x 60 feet, and on each side of rink were two 17 feet wide curling rinks)
[31] Argosy, vol. XXXIII, no. 4, Jan. 1907, p. 177
[32] [Sackville] Tribune, Dec. 2, 1915: "In and Around old Mount A.," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/12, p. 189; Argosy, vol. XLI, no. 4, Jan. 1916, "Locals," p. 271; Argosy, vol. XLIII, no. 2, Nov. 1916, "Editorial," p. 110; Argosy, vol. XLIV, no. 3, Jan. 1918, "Editorial," p. 124
[33] Argosy, vol. XLII, no. 5, Feb. 1916, "Academy Notes," p. 328; Argosy, vol. XLII, no. 6, Mar. 1916, p. 394
[34] Mount Allison Record, vol. IX, no. 2, 1925, “The College Rink,” p. 9
[35] [Sackville] Tribune, Nov. 18, 1918 (article mentions big snow storm, but does not mention rink collapse); Argosy, vol. XLV, no. 2, Dec. 1918, "Editorial," pp. 75-6 (article says Copp’s rink collapsed due to a storm); Mount Allison Record, vol. IX, no. 2, 1925, "The College Rink," p. 9 (article says: “Shortly after the war the town rink in Sackville collapsed as the result of a heavy fall of snow”)
[36] Mount Allison University Archives, Rand Estate fonds, acc. 8272/3/1, postcard showing construction of rink with date on it, Dec. 1, 1919; Sackville Tribune-Post, “Tantramar Flashback,” by Bill Hamilton, Apr. 11, 2001, p. 6