Beaver Field
Beaver Field (1892–1908), was the first official home to the Penn State football and baseball teams. Retroactively known as "Old Beaver Field", it had a capacity of 500 and stood between present-day Osmond and Frear Laboratories, now the site of a parking lot.
Old Beaver Field | |
| |
| Full name | Old Beaver Field |
|---|---|
| Location | University Park, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°47′56.4″N 77°51′47.0″W |
| Owner | Penn State University |
| Operator | Penn State University |
| Capacity | 500 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1891 |
| Opened | 1893 |
| Closed | 1909 |
| Construction cost | $3,000 |
| Tenants | |
| Penn State Nittany Lions football (1893–1908) | |
Until the construction of Beaver Field, sports teams of the then Pennsylvania State College, known as the Nittany Lions, played on the Old Main Lawn, a grassy area outside the main classroom building. Beaver Field served as the first official home for the football and baseball teams. The football team moved in 1909 to New Beaver Field, which held 30,000 fans and served as Penn State's home stadium until 1959, when it was disassembled and moved to the current location of Beaver Stadium in 1960. After the move to New Beaver Field, the original field became known as Old Beaver Field.
The field had a grandstand that seated 500. This took the form of a hip-roofed building with no side walls, supported by rows of six columns at the front and rear plus one on each side. A gable at the front bore the name "Beaver Field", below it the year, 1893, and "P.S.C."[1]
Beaver Field was named in June 1892 for James A. Beaver, governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891. Although the state did not usually fund athletics in its public colleges, leaving that to student fees and alumni gifts, Beaver had a line added to the legislative appropriation for Pennsylvania State College that provided $2,000 in 1891–92 and $1,000 in 1893–94 for improving its athletic grounds. These funds made it possible to lay out a quarter-mile track enclosing baseball and football grounds, tennis courts, and a grandstand.[1] The field opened on November 6, 1893, after a two-day weather delay, with a game against Western University of Pittsburgh that Penn State won 32–0.[2]
References
- Lee Stout; Harry H. West (2017). Lair of the Lion: A History of Beaver Stadium. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. p. 39. ISBN 9780271077765.
- Geoff Rushton (June 13, 2011). "Beaver Stadium: The Home of Penn State Football". Penn State News. Retrieved April 21, 2019.