FOREWORD
The story of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum began ten years ago. The progression of events between the first consideration of the memorial in 1944 and its completion in 1952 was by no means smooth and uninterrupted. The account of the solution of the problems involved in planning, financing, and constructing the memorial constitutes a community accomplishment.
The source material for this publication originated in a speech delivered by Otto H. Adams at a meeting of the Quest Club, November 6, 1953. Mr. Adams, recently elected president of the Coliseum Board of Trustees, reviewed the history of the Coliseum and discussed its value to city and county in his paper entitled “Coliseum—Asset or Liability?” James R. Fleming, the past president of the Board of Trustees, A. M. Strauss, the architect, and Don L. Myers, the coliseum manager, have supplied supplementary information.
The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County present this pamphlet in the hope that it will interest and inform the citizens of Allen County.
In 1944 the Fort Wayne Junior Chamber of Commerce first proposed the construction of a coliseum as a memorial to the men and women of Allen County who had lost their lives in both World Wars. Such a structure was envisioned as serving a twofold purpose; it would honor our heroic dead and would greatly increase recreational facilities. A Russell Sage Foundation study was made after World War II; the report indicates a definite trend among memorial planners to erect “living memorials,” which serve the people while honoring their heroes, rather than ornamental arches, statues, and monuments. The Foundation believes that this trend is commendable and hails it as a “triumph of common sense over sentimentalism.” Contemporary opinion seems to be that construction of a useful memorial in no way detracts from the honor paid to the dead. On the contrary, it is felt that the utility of the monument demonstrates our regard for them more forcibly by benefiting that society for which they died.
The members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey of city residents and concluded that 78 per cent were in favor of the proposed coliseum. Two independent occurrences in 1944 added impetus to the movement. First, Psi Iota Xi Sorority sponsored an analysis of recreational facilities estimated to be needed by the city for a twenty-year period. The sorority submitted to the mayor a plan drawn up by Elwood Allen and George Nesbitt of the National Recreation Association. A memorial field house was one of the major recommendations of the plan. A memorial honoring General Anthony Wayne, the founder of the city, was also proposed in 1944. This memorial, too, was envisioned as a practical structure, and a field house was one of the suggestions. Both state and national funds could be employed to construct an Anthony Wayne memorial.
The Junior Chamber of Commerce survey determined that popular opinion supported the project. Accordingly, that association hired Mr. Allen, who had drawn up general recreational plans for Fort Wayne, to make a further investigation of possible sites and building plans. It was immediately evident that a coliseum would be a costly construction; the cost would probably exceed two million dollars. The acquisition of funds was the first problem that had to be solved. James R. Fleming presided over the meeting at which the survey results were first discussed. He suggested building a coliseum as a memorial both to the dead of the two World Wars and to Anthony Wayne. He believed that financial aid could be obtained from the federal government in this way.
Despite general popular sentiment in Allen County favoring the erection of a coliseum, the planners faced and overcame many obstacles before their dream became a reality. In 1945 plans were announced for a sports arena, which was to be built by private enterprise in the Quimby Village area. Had these plans been realized, the sports arena would have been in direct competition with the Memorial Coliseum. The next impediment was in the form of objections to the proposed site; the residents of the Lawton Park area, which was the first site recommended, were vocal in their opposition.
Since at least a portion of the cost of a coliseum would be financed by property taxes, in 1946 it was decided to submit the question to the electorate of Allen County in the form of a referendum. After the county commissioners had agreed to place the question on the ballot, the Junior Chamber of Commerce organized and carried out an extensive publicity campaign to secure public approval. The War Memorial Commission, a group organized with the encouragement of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, assumed responsibility for the planning and co-ordination of the campaign. Don Myers was elected chairman. Conventional advertising media were utilized: newspapers, radio broadcasts, direct mail, and bus placards. In addition, public attention was dramatically captured by dropping thousands of leaflets over the city from a plane and by holding a torchlight parade on election eve. A special appeal was made to high school students. Commission speakers addressed student assemblies and explained how the coliseum could enlarge school sports programs. Buttons in school colors, advertising the coliseum, were distributed at football games, and publicity appeared in school newspapers. Although the planning of this well-integrated program must be credited to the War Memorial Commission, the Junior Chamber of Commerce continued to give active support and co-operated to carry out all phases of the fight.
