At the conclusion of the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis ended its long tradition of annually hosting large indoor agriculture and horse shows.

In 1928 the National Dairy Show offered the city the opportunity to become the permanent location for its annual two-week meeting of dairymen and their prize animals.

[3] In the 1973 NCAA Basketball Final, the UCLA Bruins and legendary coach John Wooden defeated Memphis State 87–66, behind 44 points from Bill Walton who went 21 of 22 from the floor.

[4] On February 13, 1974, the St. Louis Stars played host to the Red Army team at the Arena in the final match of Russian squad's three-city indoor soccer tour of North America.

Young players such as Steve Jones ("Snapper", now a TV analyst), Marvin Barnes ("Bad News), Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone all played for the Spirits during their tenure at the Arena.

The team was not included in the ABA–NBA merger in 1976, when the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and New York Nets joined the NBA.

As a condition of getting the expansion franchise, Blues owner Sid Salomon Jr. purchased the Arena from the Chicago Black Hawks and spent several million dollars to renovate the building and add some 3,000 seats, bringing the total to almost 15,000.

The team was nearly moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, before it was purchased by Harry Ornest, a Los Angeles-based businessman, who promptly returned the Arena to its original name.

After the Blues moved to their new home, the venue now known as Enterprise Center, during the 1994 offseason, the final event at the St. Louis Arena was a concert by Christian artist Carman Licciardello.

With no income allowed for the Arena while insurance expenses continued, the building sat vacant while pressure built on the city government to either make it revenue-producing (essentially impossible under the Civic Progress-imposed non-compete clause) or raze it.