Originally the Charlotte Park Center, it was renamed in 1987 in honor of WBT Radio morning personality, Grady Cole.

TV Superman George Reeves and a troupe including Noel Neill, Gene Lebell, Chaz Chase, and The Florida Trio performed two shows at the center on August 31, 1957.

Due to increasing demands & needs of touring productions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a local regional promoter Kaleidoscope Productions paid to install the additional electrical service Company switches for tours in the city's owned building, to save money from having to continue renting generators to supply the additional power from an ongoing per concert/event basis.

Concerts held in the arena include The Allman Brothers with Duane Allman, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath, Bootsy Collins and James Gang in 1972, Pink Floyd in 1973,[3] David Bowie in 1974, Cheap Trick in 1978, Ozzy Osbourne in 1991, as well as shows by Dire Straits, Rush, Frehley's Comet, Stevie Ray Vaughan, R.E.M., Warrant in the 1980s.

The 1990s saw shows from Megadeth, Testament, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Widespread Panic, Marilyn Manson, August 5, 1994 Counting Crows, September 26th 1996 Beck with opening act Dirty Three December 6, 1996 Tool, and with Jan 31st 1998 the venue hosted Judas Priest, as well as Coldplay in 2003 and Good Charlotte and Simple Plan in 2005.