The Birth of Professional Hockey & the Tales of Pittsburgh's Hockey History

An Unmatched Legacy

A City of Firsts

No other city in the world can claim this concentration of hockey innovations. From artificial ice to organized leagues, from professional salaries to the first women's league, Pittsburgh didn't just play hockey — it invented the sport as we know it today.

1895

First · N. America

Artificial Ice Rink

The Schenley Park Casino's ice-making plant was the first of its kind on the continent.

1895

First · United States

Organized Hockey Game

Dec. 30, 1895 — Queen's University vs. local Pittsburgh players at the Casino.

1896

First · United States

Organized Hockey League

The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, four teams, founded at the Casino.

1901

First · World

Professional Hockey Season

The 1901–02 WPHL season: openly paid salaries from $10 to $35 a week. Three years before Houghton.

1901

First · World

Professional Hockey Players

Canadian imports paid salaries plus jobs. The first players ever recognized as professionals.

1902

First · World

Hockey Pay Confession

Harry Peel's public admission of $35/week pay — the first documented acknowledgment.

1904

First · World

Inter-City Pro League

The IPHL, built on Pittsburgh's WPHL foundation. Over half its players were WPHL alumni.

~1904

First · World

Aluminum Skates

Garnet Sixsmith adapted aluminum speed skates for hockey use at Duquesne Garden.

1908

First · World

Professional Trade

Jan. 28, 1908: Pittsburgh Pirates trade three players to the Bankers for three.

1916

First · United States

Women's Hockey League

The Winter Garden Girls, Polar Maids, and Arctic Girls — 26 years before "A League of Their Own."

1920

First · United States

Olympic Hockey Team

Assembled by Pittsburgh's Roy Schooley from local players for the Antwerp Games.

1940

First · World

Touring Ice Show

The Ice Capades, born when John H. Harris saw Sonja Henie skate at Duquesne Garden.

1895 – 1896

Where it all began: the Schenley Park Casino

In November 1895, Pittsburgh built something no other city in North America had. The Schenley Park Casino was a $400,000 entertainment palace in Oakland with seating for 4,000 — and beneath its roof, a marvel of engineering: the continent's first artificial ice-making plant. Hockey would have its American beginning here.

Schenley Park Casino exterior — **The Schenley Park Casino · 1895**The first building in North America to feature an artificial ice surface. Built by Pittsburgh capitalists Harry Davis and Christopher Magee at the urging of impresario James W. Conant.

Inside the Schenley Park Casino — **Inside the Casino**The ice surface, surrounded by tiered seating for 4,000 spectators.

Casino interior, alternate view — **The arena floor**Hosted skating, polo, and ice hockey from 1895 to its destruction by fire in 1896.

The first hockey game in Pittsburgh

On December 30, 1895, Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario played a team of local players from Western University of Pennsylvania (now Pitt) and Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost (now Duquesne University). The half-hour exhibition was held before a polo match. The Pittsburgh papers were electrified.

Advertisement for the first game — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Dec. 29, 1895**Advertisement promoting the Queen's University vs. Pittsburgh exhibition.

Pittsburgh Daily Post on the first game — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Dec. 30, 1895**Coverage of the first hockey game in Pittsburgh history.

Results of the first game — **Pittsburgh Press · Dec. 31, 1895**Results: "as a lot of boys with shinny sticks compared to the past masters."

First official game — **Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · Dec. 31, 1895**The Casino's first official hockey contest.

First goal at the Casino — **Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · Jan. 11, 1896**The first goal scored at the Casino is recorded for posterity.

Founding the league at the Casino

By October 1896, Pittsburgh had organized America's first hockey league at the Casino: the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, Duquesne Country & Athletic Club, Western University of Pennsylvania, and the Pittsburgh Casino team. Games were played Tuesdays and Fridays.

WPHL formation announcement — **Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · Oct. 3, 1896**The formation of what would become the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League.

League with 6 teams — **Pittsburgh Press · Oct. 25, 1896**Initial plans for a six-team league.

Final four-team alignment — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Oct. 27, 1896**The final four-team WPHL alignment.

First hockey team at the Casino — **The First Hockey Team in Pittsburgh**Pittsburgh's earliest organized hockey players at the Schenley Park Casino, 1895–96.

Casino team photo — **Pittsburgh Casino Team · 1895–1896**As later printed in the Pittsburgh Daily Post on April 16, 1899. After only 9 games, the Casino burned to the ground on December 17, 1896.

The evidence

Pittsburgh is the birthplace of professional hockey

The conventional narrative credits Houghton, Michigan (1904) as the birthplace of pro hockey. The primary sources tell a completely different story. Pittsburgh teams were paying players regular salaries at least three years earlier — and Canadian newspapers were screaming about it.

Summary of Canadian newspaper coverage — **The Canadian Press Reaction · 1902–1903**An archive summary of mentions of professional hockey in Pittsburgh across Canadian newspapers — the Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Journal, Vancouver Daily World, Winnipeg Tribune. By December 1902, the story was on every front page. Compiled by John Schalcosky.

Evidence 1 — 1901–02 WPHL season

The 1901–02 WPHL season is the first in which players were openly paid salaries. Three teams: Pittsburgh Athletic Club, Pittsburgh Bankers, and Pittsburgh Keystones. This predates Houghton's IPHL by three full years.

Evidence 2 — Montreal Gazette, late 1901

The Montreal Gazette reported that RMC had unknowingly violated amateur rules by playing Pittsburgh's Keystones, who fielded known professionals. This confirms paid play in Pittsburgh was recognized in Canada a full year before Harry Peel's public confession.

Evidence 3 — Harry Peel confession, November 1902

Keystones player Harry Peel publicly admitted to receiving $35 per week to play hockey. He was suspended by the Ontario Hockey Association. His words: "They make no bones whatever about paying men. If they do not pay them they give them fake positions."

Evidence 4 — Ottawa Journal recruitment letter, December 5, 1902

A published letter from a Pittsburgh club to a Canadian player: "We can offer you today a salary for playing, we will promise to get you a good position, and we will pay your expenses to this city."

Evidence 5 — OHA ban, December 8, 1902

Canada's Ontario Hockey Association officially declared: "Every player who goes from the O.H.A. to Pittsburgh should, by that act, disqualify himself." When the sport's own governing body calls you professional, the argument is settled.

The Houghton myth

The IPHL (1904) is conventionally called the "first professional league" — but it was built on Pittsburgh's existing professional infrastructure. Over half the IPHL's players had already played in Pittsburgh's WPHL. Pittsburgh didn't join professional hockey — it invented it.

The newspaper evidence

Below: the primary source clippings. Click any to enlarge.

Pittsburgh Press · Dec. 9, 1902The Birth of Pro Hockey

Birth of pro hockey, Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette

Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette · Dec. 19, 1902Birth of Pro Hockey

Weekly Gazette · close-upDetail showing the headline

$First paid players$

Pittsburgh Press · Nov. 10, 1902First Paid Players

Ottawa Journal · Jan. 10, 1903PROOF of Pro Hockey

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 5, 1902Recruitment letter

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 6, 1902Pittsburgh pays $15/week

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 3, 1902Pro Hockey in Pittsburgh

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 5, 1902Coverage of the OHA debate

Montreal Gazette · Nov. 8, 1902Admission of paid play

Winnipeg Tribune · Dec. 17, 1902$30/wk for the Stuarts & others

Windsor Star · Mar. 9, 1903Peel offered $150 a week

Vancouver Province · 1901Definition of professionalism

Montreal Gazette · Dec. 21, 1901Pittsburgh pros

Montreal Gazette · Dec. 27, 1901Continued coverage

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 3, 1902

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 12, 1902

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 20, 1902

Ottawa Journal · Dec. 23, 1902

Ottawa Citizen · Dec. 19, 1902

Montreal Gazette · Nov. 8, 1902

$Montreal Gazette Dec 16$

Montreal Gazette · Dec. 16, 1902

Montreal Gazette · Jan. 16, 1903

Vancouver Daily World · Dec. 13, 1902

Windsor Star · Dec. 29, 1902

Winnipeg Tribune · Dec. 17, 1902

Brooklyn Daily Eagle · Jan. 18, 1903

St. Paul Globe · Dec. 12, 1903Portage Lake NOT yet pros

1896 – 1904

The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League

The WPHL became the pre-eminent ice hockey league in the United States — the first league in the world to openly pay its players. By 1901, it was luring Canada's best talent south with salaries and jobs.

Pittsburgh Athletic Club 1901 Champions — **Pittsburgh Athletic Club · 1901 Champions**Three-time WPHL champions (1897–1900). The dominant team of the league's early years.

Pittsburgh Athletic Club team photo — **Pittsburgh Athletic Club**Another formal portrait of the storied early WPHL franchise.

Pittsburgh Bankers 1902 — **Pittsburgh Bankers · 1902**From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, December 21, 1902. The team that won the 1902–03 WPHL championship and challenged Houghton's Portage Lakes.

Pittsburgh Bankers Hockey 1902 — **Pittsburgh Bankers Hockey · 1902**Featured Stanley Cup champion Charlie Liffiton in their championship lineup.

Pittsburgh Keystones 1902 — **Pittsburgh Keystones · 1902**The Keystone Bicycle Club. The first WPHL team to recruit heavily from Canada. Their player Harry Peel's $35/week confession would shake the hockey world.

Western University of Pennsylvania 1898 — **Western University of Pennsylvania · 1898**The Pitt team (then "WUP") was one of the four founding members of the WPHL.

Duquesne Athletic Club 1909 — **Duquesne Athletic Club · 1909**From the Pittsburgh Press, February 14, 1909. A WPHL charter member.

Pittsburgh hockey players 1900 — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Nov. 11, 1900**The players of Pittsburgh's hockey scene heading into the breakthrough 1901–02 season.

WPHL managers — **WPHL Managers · Pittsburgh Press, Dec. 21, 1902**The architects of the world's first professional hockey league.

Bankers 1909 — **Pittsburgh Bankers · Feb. 6, 1909**The revived WPHL Bankers in the league's final season.

Lyceum 1908 — **Pittsburgh Lyceum · Dec. 6, 1908**The Lyceum team, a later WPHL franchise.

WPHL Teams

Pittsburgh Athletic Club

Three-time WPHL champions (1897–1900). The dominant early team.

WPHL

Pittsburgh Bankers

1902–03 WPHL champions. Featured Charlie Liffiton. Challenged Houghton for the U.S. title.

WPHL

Pittsburgh Keystones

First WPHL team to import Canadian talent. Catalyst for professionalization.

WPHL

Western University of PA

Now Pitt. Founding WPHL member, played at the Casino in 1896.

College

Duquesne Athletic Club

Original WPHL charter member from 1896.

WPHL

Pittsburgh Lyceum

Later WPHL franchise, 1907–1908 and 1916–1920.

WPHL

A priceless artifact

The Charlie Liffiton Prize

In 1902, Charlie Liffiton helped the Montreal Hockey Club win the Stanley Cup. A few months later, he disappeared south. He had come to play for the Pittsburgh Bankers of the WPHL — the world's first professional hockey league.

Charlie Liffiton's silver cigarette case award

In the personal collection of John Schalcosky

1902–03 WPHL Championship Award

A silver cigarette case, engraved:

1902-03
Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
Charlie Liffiton
Pittsburgh Bankers

This is the actual prize given to a Stanley Cup champion who left the Canadian Amateur Hockey League to play professional hockey in Pittsburgh. The following season, Houghton's Portage Lakes offered Liffiton $1,350 for a partial season — making him the highest-paid hockey player in the world.

It is, in the most literal sense, a piece of hockey's origin story — a tangible link between the amateur Canadian game and the professional American one. There may not be another artifact like it in private hands.

1904 – 1907

The International Professional Hockey League

The first inter-city professional hockey league was built on Pittsburgh's existing foundation. Over half its players were WPHL veterans. James R. Dee of Houghton came to Pittsburgh in 1903 to discuss forming the league.

Pittsburgh IPHL team 1905 — **Pittsburgh Professionals · 1905 IPHL**The WPHL's all-stars formed the new Pittsburgh team in the International Professional Hockey League. Six future Hockey Hall-of-Famers played for the club, including Hod Stuart and Tommy Smith.

1907 – 1930

Revival, the Yellow Jackets & the NHL

After the IPHL folded, Pittsburgh's hockey tradition evolved. The WPHL was revived. The first U.S. Olympic hockey team was assembled by Pittsburgh's Roy Schooley. And Pittsburgh entered the NHL.

Pittsburgh Athletic Association 1918 — **Pittsburgh Athletic Association · 1918**The amateur Pittsburgh hockey scene continued through World War I, feeding talent into the new Yellow Jackets and eventually the NHL Pirates.

Duquesne Garden Team 1915 — **Duquesne Garden Team · 1915**Pittsburgh hockey at the Duquesne Garden during the WWI era.

Pittsburgh's Herb Drury — **Herb Drury · Pittsburgh Olympian**Played for Roy Schooley's first U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1920 and later for the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fort Pitt Hornets 1925 — **Fort Pitt Hornets · Jan. 18, 1925**From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A bridge team from the amateur era to the NHL.

Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets 1931-32 — **Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets · 1931–32**Roy Schooley's team won two USAHA titles (1924, 1925) and became the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pittsburgh Pirates Hockey 1928 — **Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) · 1928**Pittsburgh's first NHL franchise played at the Duquesne Garden from 1925 to 1930.

Pirates first game ad — **Pittsburgh Press · Dec. 2, 1925**Advertisement for the very first Pittsburgh Pirates NHL home game.

**Pittsburgh Pirates Hockey**The NHL Pirates from 1925 to 1930.

The arenas

The venues that shaped Pittsburgh hockey

Schenley Park Casino

1895 – 1896

~4,000 capacity · First artificial ice in N. America · Destroyed by fire

Duquesne Garden

1899 – 1956

~5,000 capacity · Home of WPHL, IPHL, Hornets, Ice Capades

Winter Garden

1915 – ~1920s

Inside the Exposition Building · Home of women's hockey teams

The Duquesne Garden

For 57 years, the Duquesne Garden was the heart of Pittsburgh hockey. Originally a streetcar barn, it was converted by Christopher Magee and managed by James W. Conant beginning in 1899. It hosted the WPHL, the IPHL Pittsburgh Professionals, the NHL Pittsburgh Pirates, the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets, and the Ice Capades. It was demolished in 1956.

Duquesne Garden outside — **Duquesne Garden · Exterior**The arena at the corner of Craig Street and Fifth Avenue.

Duquesne Garden in 1933 — **Duquesne Garden · 1933**The Garden in the early Hornets era under John H. Harris.

Duquesne Garden Fort Pitt Hornets and Yellow Jackets — **Duquesne Garden · Fort Pitt Hornets & Yellow Jackets**The Garden hosted both teams during the amateur and pre-NHL professional eras.

The Winter Garden

Located inside the old Exposition Building at the Point, the Winter Garden was a smaller but historically vital venue. It hosted the women's hockey teams of 1915–1917, and Hobey Baker played his last hockey game on its ice.

Winter Garden / Exposition Building — **Exposition Building & Winter Garden**The rink at the confluence of the rivers. Home to Pittsburgh's women's hockey league and Hobey Baker's farewell game.

Winter Garden Pittsburgh Daily Post 1915 — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Nov. 28, 1915**Coverage of the Winter Garden's opening.

1930s – 1960s

The Hornets & the Harris dynasty

John H. Harris — son of Nickelodeon pioneer John P. Harris — leased Duquesne Garden in 1932, founded the Pittsburgh Hornets in 1936, and created the Ice Capades in 1940. The Hornets won two Calder Cups (1952, 1955).

Pittsburgh Hornets 1947 — **Pittsburgh Hornets · 1947**The beloved AHL franchise won two Calder Cup championships and became Pittsburgh's hockey team for nearly three decades.

Pittsburgh Hornets 1966-67 — **Pittsburgh Hornets · 1966–67**The final season before the Penguins arrived in the NHL.

1915 – 1917

The first women's hockey league in America

A decade before most American cities had women's sports leagues, Pittsburgh had organized women's ice hockey at the Winter Garden rink. The story parallels "A League of Their Own" — except 26 years earlier, on ice, during World War I instead of World War II.

Winter Garden Girls Team Photo — **The Winter Garden Girls**One of several women's hockey teams competing in Pittsburgh's organized women's league during the 1915–17 seasons. The teams included the Polar Maids, the Arctic Girls, and the Winter Garden Girls — with standings published in the Pittsburgh Daily Post.

A forgotten farewell

Hobey Baker's last game

For decades, historians believed America's first hockey superstar played his final game in New York on February 22, 1917. They were wrong. His real final game was a sudden-death hat trick at Pittsburgh's Winter Garden one month later.

Hobey Baker in Pittsburgh, March 22, 1917 — **Pittsburgh Daily Post · Mar. 22, 1917**Promotion of Hobey Baker's appearance at the Winter Garden. Two days later, on March 24, 1917, Baker would score a sudden-death overtime hat trick — his final hockey game, played in Pittsburgh just days before America entered World War I. He died in a plane crash in France on December 21, 1918.

The architects

The men & women who built Pittsburgh hockey

The Impresario · 1862–1906

James Wallace Conant

The flamboyant carnival man who introduced ice hockey to Pittsburgh. He convinced Harry Davis and Christopher Magee to build the Schenley Park Casino with the first artificial ice rink in North America. After the Casino fire, he spent winters managing the New York Ice Palace before returning to manage the Duquesne Garden, where he formally established the WPHL in 1901 — the world's first professional hockey league.

He died at age 43 under mysterious circumstances at New York's Navarra Hotel on March 14, 1906, after checking in under a false name with two women. A New York physician disputed the official cause of death.

The Founder · Former Ottawa Senator

Arthur Sixsmith

Former Ottawa Senators player who came to Pittsburgh in 1901 and recruited Canadian players (including his brother Garnet) to formalize the modern WPHL. The Sixsmith brothers transformed Pittsburgh from an amateur scene into the world's first professional hockey league.

Garnet Sixsmith later became the first player to use aluminum skates in hockey (~1904) and once scored 11 goals in a single WPHL game. In 1935, he dropped the ceremonial first puck at the Pittsburgh Shamrocks' inaugural game, honoring the league's legacy.

The Olympian · NHL Pirate

Herb Drury

Played for Pittsburgh's Roy Schooley on the first-ever U.S. Olympic hockey team at the 1920 Antwerp Games — another world first for Pittsburgh hockey. Drury later joined the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates from 1925 to 1930. He represented the bridge between Pittsburgh's amateur tradition and its NHL era.

The Birth of Professional Hockey & the Tales of Pittsburgh's Hockey History

A City of Firsts

Artificial Ice Rink

Organized Hockey Game

Organized Hockey League

Professional Hockey Season

Professional Hockey Players

Hockey Pay Confession

Inter-City Pro League

Aluminum Skates

Professional Trade

Women's Hockey League

Olympic Hockey Team

Touring Ice Show

Where it all began: the Schenley Park Casino

The first hockey game in Pittsburgh

Founding the league at the Casino

Pittsburgh is the birthplace of professional hockey

The newspaper evidence

The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League

WPHL Teams

Pittsburgh Athletic Club

Pittsburgh Bankers

Pittsburgh Keystones

Western University of PA

Duquesne Athletic Club

Pittsburgh Lyceum

The Charlie Liffiton Prize

1902–03 WPHL Championship Award

The International Professional Hockey League

Revival, the Yellow Jackets & the NHL

The venues that shaped Pittsburgh hockey

Schenley Park Casino

Duquesne Garden

Winter Garden

The Duquesne Garden

The Winter Garden

The Hornets & the Harris dynasty

The first women's hockey league in America

Hobey Baker's last game

The men & women who built Pittsburgh hockey

James Wallace Conant

Arthur Sixsmith

Herb Drury

All Pittsburgh hockey teams