Wiesbaden's only winter sports facility was opened to the public on December 23, 1972. In addition to a donation of DM 540,000 from the namesake, Otto Hubertus Henkell, owner of the Henkell & Co. sparkling wine producer, the construction of the facility was made possible by donations from the city of Mainz, among others. This support became necessary after the calculated construction costs of 400,000 marks had multiplied to over 3 million marks.

In the early years, the ice rink was very popular. In the first season, 228,000 ice skaters were counted. A planned privatization in the 1980s failed due to falling visitor numbers. In 1986, only 33,000 paying ice skaters were counted. Thanks to new event ideas such as the ice disco and the opening to various sports clubs, the city managed to avert the economic ruin of the ice rink for the time being.

After the turn of the millennium, the state audit office again suggested that the city close the facility for economic reasons. However, this demand was rejected by those responsible in the interests of the facility's users. In the course of securing its existence, the city also made it clear that the roofing of the ice rink, which had been requested by an interest group in a petition in 2007, was not feasible.

Now that the future of the ice rink has been secured, the facility with its 60 x 30 meter surface continues to offer plenty of space for all fans of ice skating from November to March. For the youngest skaters, skating aids such as penguins and gnomes are available. The regular ice discos have become one of the most popular meeting places for young people during the winter months. In the summer months, all inline skaters and roller skaters can regularly use the facility free of charge. In addition to this public use, the artificial ice rink also serves as a training and competition venue for the Wiesbaden Ice Hockey Club, the Wiesbaden Ice, Inline and Sports Club 98 and the Wiesbaden Roller and Ice Skating Club.