Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Roy Wilkins Auditorium
175 Kellogg Blvd W
St Paul, MN 55102
The Roy Wilkins Auditorium is located in the Xcel Energy Center complex in the heart of downtown Saint Paul. It is named after an equal rights activist named Roy Wilkins who called Saint Paul his home. Between the years of 1932 and 1977, Mr. Wilkins started out as the assistant executive secretary of the NAACP, and eventually worked his way up to becoming the director of the NAACP, a position that he held for 22 years before retiring.
The building was originally built in 1932, and was designed by renowned architect, Clarence W. Wigington. Originally, the complex was named the Saint Paul Auditorium and has been a destination hot spot for music lovers since its inception. The building was used by the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team when their usual home arena, the Minneapolis Auditorium, was booked. Additionally, the Minnesota State Boys’ High School hockey Tournament used this as their tournament arena, and it was also home to the Minnesota Fighting Saints hockey team before the St. Paul Civic Center was built.
Because of his great impact on both the city and the country as a whole, the entertainment complex officially renamed to be the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in 1985. The Roy Wilkins Auditorium contains three areas: the actual Roy Wilkins Auditorium, which is approximately 44,800 square feet and houses 5844 seats for concerts; and exhibition all that sits on 30,000 square feet and the Wilkins Studios, which are used for rehearsal, social and competitive dancing.
The entire Roy Wilkins complex is owned, like the Xcel Energy Center and the RiverCentre, by the city of Saint Paul and run by the Saint Paul Arena Company, which is a sub-company of Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, or MSE.