The news first appeared on the front page of the Providence Journal the morning of April 18th, 1925. Headlines announced plans for Rhode Island to become the home of New England’s largest auditorium, “an imposing structure of artistic design, seating 8,000 persons and costing $500,000.” The new facility was hailed as being “of vital importance [...]

Anthony Venditti became famous in automotive circles, not only here in Rhode Island but in a good part of the nation. Known as the “Godfather” of stock car racing in New England, his almost single-handed creation of the Seekonk Speedway and the innovations he introduced to the sport there made him one of the early [...]

When the RI Auditorium opened in 1926 it was the state’s very first indoor rink. With it, the game’s popularity exploded. Before too long there were too many players, too many teams and too many leagues for the available arena ice time. In order to meet their expanding needs, high schools, colleges and local amateur [...]

We call them “hockey” rinks because, well, we play hockey. They’re really “ice” rinks, a playground for all sorts of recreation, not the least of which is figure skating, which most certainly preceded hockey as a recreational pastime. Patricia and Betty Ann Farrell grew up on figure skates. Their father, the late Dr. Charles Farrell, [...]

In the late sixties and early seventies, there were only a few stations on our television dials. Over our New England winters, three and sometimes four times a week, when 7 pm rolled around, households throughout the region tuned to UHF channel 38 in Boston. The Bruins were on and, through often grainy images, Bobby [...]

Everyone remembers where they played their first organized hockey. Clark Donatelli sure does. It was the brand-new rink in his hometown of North Providence. “I grew up playing there in mites and first-year squirts. Back then you played house league and travel. It was a perfect location. It was right there, five minutes from the [...]