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Photographer: Mike Wintermantel
Taken: August 14, 2014
Caption: Dee Stadium-The Birthplace of Professional Hockey
Additional Description: panel right The Dee Stadium 1928
The 1902-03 Portage Lakes
James R. Dee (1856-1946) born in Cliff Mine, in nearby Keweenaw County, was a local business man who organized the Worlds First Professional Hockey League here in the Copper Country. James Dee is recognized as the father of professional hockey in the United States. The first professional hockey league in the world, featured teams from Calumet, Sault Ste. Marie Canada, Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, Pittsburg and our Portage Lake team. "His teams won international championships and laid the foundation for the formation of professional hockey leagues which are thriving in America today." according to the local newspaper on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

His interest in winter sports and hockey lead him to promote and organize a company to build the Amphidrome in 1902. It was the largest enclosed ice rink in the country at the time. When the Amphidrome was destroyed by fire in 1927, Dee took the lead in organizing the financing the construction of the New Amphidrome before the beginning of the next hockey season. This ice rink was purchased by the College of Mining and Technology (Now MTU) in 1943; at which time, they dedicated the rink the James R. Dee Stadium
Submitted: August 16, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Database Locator Identification Number: p282884
File Size: 2.487 Megabytes

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