When over 2,000 people showed up for the inaugural match, Wible decided to invest further in the rink and soon had additional bleachers erected to accommodate overflow.

Despite the small size of the rink, the fanfare helped to entice the cash-strapped Duluth Hornets to relocate and become the Wichita Blue Jays for the second half of the 1933 season.

With the new facilities in place, Ella Wible, Samuel's wife, was awarded an expansion franchise in 1935 and the Wichita Skyhawks began playing in November of that year.

The team wasn't very successful on the ice, producing only one winning campaign in five years, and saw its initially strong crowd diminish by the end of the decade.

After World War II, it reverted into being solely a skating rink and hosted mostly amateur or semi-professional matches until the mid-50s.