New Beaver Field
New Beaver Field was a stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. It served as the third home of the Penn State University Nittany Lions football team, hosting the team until they moved in 1960 to Beaver Stadium. It was built to replace the original Beaver Field (1892–1908), retroactively called Old Beaver Field, which had a capacity of 500 and stood between present-day Osmond and Frear Laboratories. Prior to this, the team played on Old Main Lawn, a grassy area outside the main classroom building of the time. [3]
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| Full name | New Beaver Field |
|---|---|
| Location | University Park, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°47′48″N 77°52′11″W |
| Owner | Penn State University |
| Operator | Penn State University |
| Capacity | 30,000 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1907 |
| Opened | 1909 Capacity 1,200 |
| Expanded | 1915[1] Capacity 6,000 1920 Capacity 16,000 (expandable to 20,000) 1924 Press box added 1934 Capacity 14,700 1949 Capacity 27,720 |
| Closed | 1959 |
| Construction cost | $23,000 [2] (equivalent to $654,478 in 2019) |
| Tenants | |
| Penn State Football (1909–1959) Penn State Men's Soccer (1911–1959) Penn State Baseball Penn State Lacrosse Penn State Track and Field | |
New Beaver Field was built to the northeast of Rec Hall on the present sites of the Nittany Lion Inn and the Nittany Parking Deck and held 30,000 people at its peak. In addition to football, the stadium had a track as well as baseball, lacrosse, and soccer fields. In 1959, the entire structure was disassembled and moved to the northeast corner of campus, where it was reassembled, expanded, and dubbed Beaver Stadium.[4] Portions of the original 1909 design are still in use today. The stadium is named after James A. Beaver, who was a governor of Pennsylvania and a member of the school's board of trustees.
History
In the early 1900s Penn State announced its plans to create an athletic complex northeast of Rec Hall on undeveloped land. The complex would contain a football field, track, lacrosse field, soccer field and baseball field.[5] Making way for the new athletic fields construction began by leveling the 18 acres of land the complex would sit on. The university was loaned wagons and scrapers for the project by alumnus A. C. Reed and the team of workers lead by Bellefonte, Pennsylvania builder R. B. Taylor began to clear the land.[6][7] Once completed the team of builders began digging drainage ditches and laying water pipes for upkeep of the fields.[2] The construction team was paid a was paid a total of $15,000 (equivalent to $426,833 in 2019) for the excavation and $8,000 (equivalent to $227,644 in 2019) for ditch and pipe work bringing the total cost to $23,000 (equivalent to $654,478 in 2019). $15,000 was appropriated by the state of Pennsylvania for the field complex project.[8] The university repurposed the existing grandstands from the old Beaver Field which sat 200 and built two wooden bleachers on either side that at 1000 giving the stadium an initial total capacity of 1,200.[9][10] Once finished the complex was one of the largest athletic fields in the United States spanning 17 acres.[2]
As construction was finishing a name had yet to be given to the field complex. This stirred up a debate amongst alumni and students about what the field should be named. Many wanted to keep the name Beaver Field to honor General James A. Beaver the former governor of Pennsylvania and university board of trustees president that helped secure funding for the former field. Others suggested that the field should be named after George W. Atherton the former president of the university who had died just years earlier.[11] The field was dedicated on May 7, 1909 at an interscholastic track meet hosted by the University. The new complex received the name New Beaver Field with the former Beaver Field being retroactively renamed Old Beaver Field. Around 200 meet invitations were sent to high school teams around Pennsylvania.[12][1]
As Penn State Football, Soccer and Lacrosse began playing home games on New Beaver Field the teams easily filled the 1200 capacity grandstands. The university continued to expand the seating capacity by building wood bleachers onto the existing grandstand. 4800 bleacher seats were added by the end of the 1920's bringing the total capacity of the stadium to 6000. The stadium’s seating was again restructured in the early 1920s due to increased student enrollment and ticket demand. The university demolished the old grandstands and installed two larger sets of bleacher seating on both the east and west sideline. The new upgrades allowed around 16,000 people to attend events hosted at the field. For large events when more seating was necessary, temporary stands around the end zones were erected to form a complete bowl bringing the total capacity to 20,000. Due to an increased press interest in the Nittany Lions, the university installed a press box in 1924. It was noted that the press box was a shack like structure with little room for reporters.[1]
The formerly all wood grandstands and bleachers were replaced with steel starting in 1934. During the 1934 season construction on the stadium cut seating capacity to 5,500. The Great Depression severely delayed the project forcing renovations to be broken up and completed in four phases. Coming to completion in 1939, the renovation brought the seating capacity to 14,700. The steel grandstands allowed for a more permanent feeling structure.[1]
As enrollment to the university and demand for tickets grew, Penn State planned to double the size of its steel grandstand seating allowing for a total capacity of 27,720. The renovation began in 1948 and was lead by Byron J. Lambert a grandstand patent holder and former professor at the University of Iowa and was quickly completed by 1949.[1]
When construction began on Beaver Stadium in 1959 sections of the grandstand from New Beaver Field were moved and fitted against a new upper grandstand to build the large capacity Beaver Stadium. The stand sections were moved a mile and a half from their original location.[13]
After the removal of the grandstands in 1959 the lot New Beaver Field was located on was repurposed to build university education buildings and eventually the Nittany Lion Inn.[13]
References
- Stout, Lee; West, Harry (July 3, 2017). Lair of the Lion : a history of Beaver Stadium. Penn State University Press. ISBN 978-0271077765.
- "The New Athletic Field". 5 (3). State Collegian. 22 October 1908. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "The Behrend College Collegian". 45 (5). The Behrend College Collegian. 3 October 1996. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- "Beaver Stadium: A Visual History Through The Years". Onward State. Onward State. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "Beaver Stadium: A Visual History Through The Years". Onward State. 25 September 2015.
- "New Beaver Field at State College". Democratic Watchman. 15 November 1907. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "Three Months of Progress". 5 (13). State Collegian. 17 December 1908. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "The New Athletic Field". 5 (15). State collegian. 17 December 1908. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- "The New Beaver Field". 5 (21). State Collegian. 11 March 1909. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "The New Beaver Field". 5 (25). State Collegian. 22 April 1909. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "Beaver Field". 5 (6). State Collegian. 29 October 1908. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "A Gigantic Field Meet". 5 (23). State Collegian. 25 March 1909. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- Bower, Rick (17 September 1960). "Birth of a Stadium". The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 5 January 2021.