Located at 92 Frood Road in
Downtown Sudbury, on the northwest corner of the intersection with College Street, the building was originally built in 1947 as a
Royal Canadian Legion hall. Following several years of labour unrest in the city resulting from factional wars between
Inco and
Falconbridge mining employees over representation by the
United Steelworkers of America or the
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, most workers eventually reconciled under the leadership of the Steelworkers. With the need to acquire a new home for the expanded union organization, representatives Don McNabb and Gib Gilchrist selected the hall, which the Legion had put up for sale due to declining membership. The union purchased the building, and moved into it on November 25, 1965. The building was also considered a local institution by the wider community, often being rented out as a banquet and reception hall and as a meeting venue for community groups, political party nomination contests, fundraising events and other community functions. Fire alarms first went off at 2:12 a.m. The Greater Sudbury Fire Service responded to the alarms, and the fire appeared to be under control by 6 a.m. However, an isolated pocket of the fire later erupted again, and by 9:30 a.m. the revived fire had reached the building's second floor offices.
Leo Gerard, a former leader of Local 6500 who has been the president of the Steelworkers International since 2001, returned to Sudbury on the weekend and spoke to the media, stating that "next to losing a family member, this is the most traumatic event in my life." At the time of the fire, the hall had already been booked solid for events every weekend through 2010. ==Aftermath==