Ahearn Field
Ahearn Field was the first on-campus athletic field for Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.[2] It was used from 1911 to 1922 by the football team, baseball team, and track team.[1] It was named in honor of former coach Mike Ahearn.
Location | Manhattan, Kansas |
---|---|
Owner | Kansas State |
Operator | Kansas State |
Capacity | Unknown |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Opened | April 15, 1911 |
Closed | 1922 |
Construction cost | $10,000[1] |
Tenants | |
Kansas State |
The field opened with a high school track competition held on April 15, 1911.[3]
Before Ahearn Field, Kansas State's athletic teams used an open public square in Manhattan located at Bluemont Avenue and 8th Street, known informally as Athletic Park.[1][2] A covered wooden grandstand was built at the Athletic Park in 1906, along with a small locker room.[1] These structures were both transported to Ahearn Field in 1911 and used at the new site.[1] The grandstand was located at the south end of the field, facing north (approximately the current location of the K-State Alumni Center).[1]
Memorial Stadium was opened at the same site in 1922, at which time the alignment of the football field was shifted from east-west to north-south, and the old grandstand was removed.[4] As late as 1938 the new field was still referred to as Ahearn Field at Memorial Stadium.[4]
References
- Willard, Julius (1940). History of Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. Kansas State College Press.
- Stallard, Mark (2000), Wildcats to Powercats: K-State Football Facts and Trivia, ISBN 1-58497-004-9
- Royal Purple. Kansas State. 1911. p. 190.
- Miller, Luman, ed. (1938). Royal Purple. Kansas State. pp. 22–23, 30.