Ice-Travaganza!!!

Building a Manmade Rink in Queens

The first facility devoted to ice skating was the New York City Building in Queens's Flushing Meadows Corona Park, originally constructed for the 1939-40 World's Fair. The rink was used for ice shows during the Fair, and afterward was converted to an ice and roller skating rink that operated from 1941 to 1946.

Although the New York City building was temporarily used as a site for the fledgling United Nations (the U.N. General Assembly used the building from October 1946 until it moved to its permanent home along the East River in Manhattan in 1950), the building once again became an ice and roller skating rink in 1952.

The building became a major World's Fair site again during the 1964-65 event when Olympic figure skating champion Dick Button organized “Ice–Travaganza” performances within the facility. After the Fair ended, the Flushing Meadows Corona Park rink became the first year-round skating facility in the park system and operated until its close in 2008.