Built as a venue for wrestling and boxing matches, the Coliseum Arena was the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s first speech in New Orleans.
King was the keynote speaker at a Feb. 1, 1957 rally attended by 2,500, as reported by the Louisiana Weekly.
“A combined effort by the United Clubs Inc., the Louisiana Council of Human Rights, the New Orleans Inter-Denominational Ministerial Alliance, and the New Orleans Improvement League brought Martin Luther King Jr., to speak in an effort to spur popular support” in the civil rights fight, the Historic New Orleans Collection states.
During his speech, King “predicted that racial integration would be won by 1963,” a 2024 Times-Picayune article states, “and asked that Black people unite to ‘protest en masse and refuse to cooperate with segregation.’”
In its 1957 report, the paper quoted King as saying, “if democracy is to live, segregation has to die.”
Located on N. Roman Street near today’s Lafitte Greenway, the Coliseum was developed by businessmen John Dillon, Frank Edwards, Al Buja and Peter Judlin in 1921. According to the Southeastern Architecture blog, architects were instructed “to eliminate interior posts in order to provide all fans with unobstructed ring views.”
Built with a balcony and four entrances for more than $100,000, the 8,000-seat arena was described as “one of the finest and most compact indoor auditoriums in the South.” It opened on July 21, 1922.
According to the Advocate, well-known boxers, such as Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, fought there. Gorgeous George, a wrestler known for his hair, wardrobe and antics, appeared at the Coliseum several times from 1951 to1955.
The Coliseum also hosted concerts, and college and high school sporting events. After closing in 1960, the building housed a metal supply company.
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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