1959 Listowel Memorial Arena tragedy; Globe and Mail coverage, comments from Diefenbaker and Frost.

I grew up in Listowel, Ontario.  Soon after moving there, I heard about how the roof over the rink at the Listowel Memorial Arena had collapsed on February 28, 1959, killing nine people, seven of whom were just kids at the arena to have a good time playing hockey on a Saturday morning.  People around town still spoke reluctantly about the disaster.  I encountered a couple of survivors over the years, one of whom was my grade six teacher.  It was understandably a difficult thing to discuss.  It seemed everyone knew or was related to one of the people killed.  I will not even attempt to comment on the disaster because I know how difficult it is for those who were personally affected by it. 

Our small town was the focus of national attention for the most unfortunate reason.  This morning at the Archives of Ontario in Toronto, I was going through newspaper clippings from the government of Leslie Frost, who was Premier of Ontario when the Listowel arena collapse happened.  While going through scrapbooks looking for articles about Ontario Hydro, I surprisingly found a page of articles from a Toronto newspaper discussing the tragedy and comments made about it by Premier Frost and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.  One item also lists the names of the 33 people who were in the arena at the time.

All photos from Archives of Ontario
RG3-39, Premier Leslie M. Frost
D361116

Click on each photo for a more readable, larger version.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto), March 3, 1959

 

 

 

The Globe and Mail (Toronto).  March 4, 1959

 

 

The Globe and Mail (Toronto).  March 2, 1959