Abandoned Historic Blue Horizon Boxing Ring In Philadelphia

Abandoned Historic Blue Horizon Boxing Ring In Philadelphia
The reputation of Philadelphia‘s Blue Horizon boxing ring is that it was “hands down” the best place that ever hosted boxing matches in the entire United States. The Blue Horizon had also seen more boxing matches in it’s near 150-year history than most other places in the country, with the first fight dating all the way back to 1938 and the last fight being in 2010.
The Blue Horizon also became world renowned for hosting international fights; as well as regional and state title fights during the years of operation.
It became even more famous when it made appearances in the 1990 movie “Rocky V” with fight scenes involving the character "Tommy Gunn" were filmed. It was also used to film fight scenes in the 2006 movie “Annapolis” starring James Franco.
The Blue Horizon was originally built in the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. It dates all the way back to 1865 when it was a row of three Queen Anne style residential homes all lined side by side. These homes were all four-stories tall and featured unique and marvelous architectural details throughout each one.
In 1914, all three houses located at 1312-1316 North Broad Street in North Philadelphia were purchased by a local chapter of the Loyal Order of Moose fraternal organization.
It was decided that they would utilize the three houses for the “bones” of the new Loyal of Order of Moose Lodge. So renovations and alterations began on the three houses to make them one massive lodge hall for the fraternal organization.
After the work was completed, all three homes now housed the entire fraternal lodge that included meeting space, a ballroom, a bar, and an auditorium.
In 1938, “Moose Lodge” as it was known back then, experienced it’s first professional boxing fights. There was fight cards on March 1st and March 28th of 1938. The March 28th fight card featured actual heavyweight boxing contenders at the now famous venue.
It seemed with each fight, the blue horizon gained more and more attention which led to it becoming legendary all across the country and even across the world.
By 2013, the building was shuttered as it ran into licensing and tax related problems, and the building began to fall into disrepair. Over the years following it’s unfortunate closure, several rumors and plans to convert the historic building into something else made headlines, however nothing ever materialized.
As of 2021, the famous Blue Horizon is still there, although the boxing ring has been removed. Current plans call for the demolition of the Blue Horizon, which has met both opposition and controversy.