Ramona Park Was Home To Some Of Michigan's Earliest Women's Hockey

Built in 1912 as a dance hall, the Ramona Ice Rink, sometimes called Ramona Gardens, became an early home to women's hockey in Michigan.

Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan the rink, had a 36-foot high ceiling with a rounded roof towering over the ice surface. It was later turned into a roller skating venue in 1942, and demolished in 1955, but before that, it housed women's hockey.

In the winter of 1914, multiple women's hockey teams were already playing at the site. Five years earlier, Ramona Park was home to the first ever professional baseball game played under artificial lighting. The park was a hub for athletic activity.

While records are scarce, the winter of 1914 proved to find a portion of that history intact. On February 18, 1914, the Ramona Girls defeated the Ferguson Girls 4-0 at Ramona Athletic Park. The Ferguson Girls made their home out of Cherry Park, where the teams also faced off.

"This game was watched with much interest, considerable skill being shown by the young women participants," The Grand Rapids Press wrote the following day. Mina Van Koevering and Nellie Appel each scored twice for the Ramonas in the win. Their roster also included Doan in net, Grace Appel, Eva Parsons, and Mary Morgan.

Following that win, the Ferguson Girls earned their first win taking a 1-0 shutout over the Ramonas. Clara Groskopf scored the lone goal for Ferguson while Elisabeth Prestler earned the shutout.

A week later the teams faced off again, this time with the Ramonas winning 3-1. Van Koevering and Appel again scored, while Morgan also got in on the action. Marie Thomas was noted as the goal scorer for the Ferguson Girls.

The next winter in 1915, The Grand Rapids Press between the Ramonas and the Pets. The Romanas roster for this game against the Pets was listed to include Mary Doan in net, defenders Pearl McRoberts and Ada Eversdyke, center Mina Van Koevering, left wing Myrtle Rose, and right wing Mary Vlassbloom. In late January, the Ramonas, led by Mina Van Koevering and the Ferguson Girls, played t0 a scoreless draw.

While this series was one of the best documented early in Michigan history, it wasn't the first. In 1907, a game was recorded in Detroit at the McDougall Avenue skating rink between the McDougall Broilers and a team of high school girls. Gertrude Bleser was the standout in the game scoring the lone goal as the Broilers took a 1-0 win.