Gillie Dome

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In 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) erected what became known as the "Hallock Old Arena", and future "Gillie Dome" within Hallock for the cities 4th indoor ice arena. This was Hallock's first modern indoor arena with the help of the W.P.A. labor. By the time the rink was completed it cost approximately $19,000. It was patterned after the rink in Emerson, Manitoba and the ice sheet measured 170’ by 70’. The Hallock Municipal Memorial Skating Rink officially opened on December 11, 1934 and featured a couple of women’s teams from Winnipeg. The first showing of a Hallock team was on December 15, when the local boys played the Winnipeg Norris Grain Company team to a 2-2 tie. Joe Lundgren was the first manager of the newly built arena. The following article is about the opening of the new arena. "With the largest crowd, representing people from all sections of Northern Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba, the new ice rink officially opened last Tuesday night. The great structure built of steel, which is 200 by 90 feet in size with seating arrangement about the entire sheet in amphitheater style, was a solid mass of people, when the 2,500 crowd was jammed into every available foot of standing room. The large reception room, which is heated, and possibly houses 500 people, was also filled to capacity. Girders supporting the big roof were used by fully 200 people as seats from which to view the evening’s program and many were turned away. When the great sheet of ice was lighted with a blaze of 5000 candles, the high beams supporting the roof with strings of colored lights, it seemed as though the spirit of Hallock had finally found a fitting and genuine way to express its public pride. Everywhere about the rink, in the restaurants and hotels, people from all sections of the state, but more particularly, Northern Minnesota, were loud in their praise of our citizens for the building of this rink. Hallock received more good advertising last Tuesday night in two hours time than it has in all the years our little city has been nestled away up here among the grain fields of this great Red River Valley. Cities Send Official Bodies for the purpose of viewing the structure and inspecting it and to witness the sort of patronage the Hallock rink was to receive, with the ultimate idea of building similar structures in their own towns and cities, groups of official bodies of men were sent here by leading cities. Grand Forks, ND, had a group of fully ten people here who were accompanied by members of the Grand Forks Dragons, one of North Dakota’s fastest hockey teams. Other bodies came from Crookston, and 15 of Cavalier, ND’s leading business men, helped swell the gate. Others came from Langdon, ND. Thief River Falls, Warren’s mayor and party of friends were also here. Large groups were present from Emerson and Letellier, Manitoba and several accompanied the hockey teams from Winnipeg. Stephen’s entire Council was present and a good number from Argyle also visited the place. Karlstad, Roseau, and Warroad also were represented. Four were present from Detroit Lakes and three from St. Cloud. Every town in Kittson County was represented in addition to the above. Without exception every person of the above groups expressed great admiration for the rink and the people of Hallock for being public spirited enough to build the place. The rink is the largest enclosed structure between the Twin Cities and Winnipeg." The Hallock old arena additionally had the same exact plans as the WPA built Winter Sports Arena arena in Crookston, MN with the interior wooden truss support system visible within the building. The Old Arena was used for hockey from 1934-1980 when the town decided that the arena was not going to be used for hockey any longer as the roof was "getting leaky and water was dripping on the ice making the playing surface un-playable any longer". In 1973 after many years of trying to devise a way to remodel or rebuild the old again arena, a group of Hallock hockey enthusiasts came up with a plan where a new arena could possibly be built. A bond issue of $140,000 through the school district was proposed and voted on successfully and with a partnership agreement with the village of Hallock - the new arena became a reality. Over $30,000 in donations were received. Most of the material and fixtures used in the interior were either acquired at cost or were outright donations and all the labor to finish the interior was donated. A used Zamboni ice resurfacing machine was bought from an arena in Ft. Wayne, Indiana for $1280 and Jerry Lindegard and Joel Deere donated their time to go there and bring it home. In 1975 it was decided to try making the new arena a complete ice facility with the addition of an artificial ice plant. In 1976 another bond issue was put to the voters, but this was defeated so another way had to be found to complete this project. In 1980, again by using donated funds and the acquisition of a used ice plant from a defunct ice arena on the east coast the artificial ice became a reality. All labor to install this ice plant was donated so the total cost to put the plant in complete running order came to about $31,000. In 1982 the old Zamboni was becoming obsolete, so another used ice machine was found in Pittsburgh, PA. and was purchased for $6500. Also in 1982 almost the entire inside of the new arena was repainted and plexiglass was installed around the playing area. Bob Lindegard was the first manager of the new arena. Following the opening of the new arena, the old WPA erected barn was sitting vacant. Local farmer Jerry Gillie proposed to purchase the old arena from the city in the winter of 1985-86 and subsequently Jerry moved the building to his farmstead property- which is just east of Hallock 4-5 miles were it still stands today. At the time of the tear-down and rebuild, the building had bleachers, ice boards, and the green metal siding with the old white exterior plywood letters of "HALLOCK ARENA" still in place. Jerry, with assistance from his family and friends dismantled, recycled the boards and bleachers to the city, and moved the building to his land where it was rebuilt on a new foundation and side walls, and stands today 14ft. higher than it originally stood when it housed hockey. It is unknown at this time if the recycled boards within the old arena were the actual boards that were utilized for the old outdoor ice sheet that the city placed adjacent to the newer 1974 rink. Jerry's land neighbors: Jodie & Matt Mootz, purchased the original foundation from Jerry, that they eventually used for an addition on their home from the arena. "The wood was so hard that we couldn't even pound nails into the wood, we had to pre-drill the holes first when building that addition from the used timbers, and wainscoting" - per Scott Klein, (long-time Hallock resident via phone), whom assisted the Mootzs' with their addition. Jerry used the recycled old arena on his property for grain storage at the time when the Government payed farmers, and grain elevators to "store grain as part of the grain storage program, in which typical farmers were payed 20¢ a year per bushel to store grain". Following grain storage, Jerry hauled dirt within the old Arena - now renamed "Gillie Dome", and housed various horse contest & shows within the old buildings walls for 3-4 years. Jerry moved to Medora, ND to retire and still owns the property today in which it is rented out at times for storage of fertilizer to local dairy farmers to raise their calves.