It was the first home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who played at the arena under various names for their first 13½ seasons.

The Arena Gardens was the third rink in Canada to feature a mechanically frozen or 'artificial' ice surface (Shea's Amphitheatre opened in 1909 and Patrick Arena opened in 1911), and for eleven years was the only such facility in eastern Canada.

The Arena was also used for musical concerts, gatherings, and other sporting events, including professional boxing, cycling, wrestling, and tennis.

The building was demolished in 1989 and the Cathedral Square residential complex and Arena Gardens municipal park now occupy the site.

The rink was owned by the Toronto Arena Company, organized September 19, 1911, with Sir Henry Pellatt as president, Lol Solman as managing director, and directors Aemilius Jarvis, Joseph Kilgour, T.W.

[6] The festival continued all week, concluding on October 12 with a variety show headlined by Canadian theatre and film actress Marie Dressler.

[7] Americans Yvonne de Tréville, Charlotte Maconda and Rosa Olitzka sang arias from several operas while Dressler performed a comedic reading of the poem "The Glove" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, singing "burlesque opera solos" to the accompaniment of Nathan Franko's Orchestra.

The 12 miles (19 km) of piping for the artificial ice was installed improperly and had to be reinstalled in December 1912.

[12] Sprague Cleghorn was suspended for four weeks and fined $65 by the NHA for assaulting the Canadiens' Newsy Lalonde in the game.

With this in mind, the St. Pats often let other teams use the Arena as a neutral site during the early and late months of the season when it was usually too warm for proper ice.

Some of the names that Mickailof presented at the Arena included Strangler Lewis and Toots Mondt, as well as reigning world champions Gus Sonnenberg, Ed Don George, Henri Deglane, Jim Londos, Ali Baba, Vic Christie, Everett Marshall and Billy Weidner, who all defended their titles at the Arena.

[17] Later that season, Foster Hewitt made his first radio broadcasts from the Arena, also on CFCA.

On December 3, 1933, 7,000 persons attended a memorial service for Sir Arthur Currie, commander of the Canadian Corps in World War I.

The arena was renovated for $3 million in 1962, adding 18 curling sheets, year-round roller skating, a parking garage, and a new facade.