Kiel Opera House becomes the Peabody Opera House – poll

ABOVE: Demolition of Kiel Auditorium, fall 1993

Note to St. Louis officials: Kiel Auditorium was razed in the early 1990s. I state this because folks are talking about the renaming of the Kiel Opera House to the Peabody Opera House at the Henry W. Kiel Auditorium.  The Kiel Auditorium was replaced by the Kiel Center Savvis Center Scottrade Center.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Tuesday, October 30, 1990:

Plans for an $85 million sports arena that would be built on the site of Kiel Auditorium and replace The Arena near Forest Park are to be announced today at a downtown news conference.

Sources involved in the effort say that some of the area’s top business leaders would form a partnership that would develop the arena. One or more city development agencies would issue about $110 million in tax-exempt bonds to build the arena and a $25 million parking garage west of Kiel .

The 3,500-seat Opera House in the front part of Kiel would remain. The auditorium in the rear of the 58-year-old building and a 900-car parking garage to the south would be torn down to make way for the arena. The city would lease the new facility to the development partnership for about 75 years.

Bonds would be paid back with revenue from arena operations, 10-year commitments from businesses to buy 65 luxury boxes at $50,000 each annually and a city subsidy of about $800,000 a year. The Board of Aldermen would have to approve most of the arrangement.

The 18,000-seat arena would become the new home of the hockey Blues, soccer Storm and basketball Billikens. The Billikens, who now play in Kiel , temporarily would join the Blues and Storm at The Arena, 5700 Oakland Avenue, after its 1990-91 season.

”A lot of effort has gone into development of a new multi-use facility at the Kiel site,” [Mayor] Schoemehl said.

The Kiel Auditorium was named the Municipal Auditorium when it opened in 1934. It was renamed Kiel Auditorium in 1943, the year after 3-term Republican mayor Henry Kiel died at the age of 71.

ABOVE: constructoin sign reads: "The Opera House at Henry W. Kiel Auditorium"

ABOVE: Portrait of Henry Kiel in St. Louis City Hall

This is a long introduction to the poll question for this week, how do you feel about the renaming the building? The poll is in the right sidebar.

- Steve Patterson