New Beaver Field was a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

University Park, Pennsylvania University Park (also referred to as Penn State University Park) is the name given to the Pennsylvania State University's main campus located in both State College and College Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The campus post office was de ...

. It served as the third home of the

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

Nittany Lions

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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. New Beaver Field was built to the northeast of

Rec Hall Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15, 1929, and is still in use. Previously, Penn State's indoor s ...

on the present sites of the

Nittany Lion Inn Nittany Lion Inn is a hotel located on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Built by Consolidated Hotel Service Inc., the Nittany Lion Inn and was opened in 1931. Its location near the Nittany Lion Shrine an ...

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. Portions of the original 1909 design are still in use today. The stadium is named after

James A. Beaver James Addams Beaver (October 21, 1837 – January 31, 1914) was an American attorney, recruiter and field commander of Pennsylvania Infantry who was wounded four times during the American Civil War, and politician who served as the 20th governor ...

, who was a

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Pennsylvania and a member of the school's board of trustees.

History

In the early 1900s

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

announced its plans to create an athletic complex northeast of

on undeveloped land. The complex would contain a football field, track, lacrosse field, soccer field and baseball field. 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 led by Bellefonte, Pennsylvania builder R. B. Taylor began to clear the land. Once completed the team of builders began digging drainage ditches and laying water pipes for upkeep of the fields. The construction team was paid a total of $15,000 () for the excavation and $8,000 () for ditch and pipe work bringing the total cost to $23,000 ().The state of Pennsylvania appropriated $15,000 for the field complex project. The university repurposed the existing

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

s from the old Beaver Field which sat 200 and built two wooden bleachers on either side that sat 1,000 people, giving the stadium an initial total capacity of 1,200. Once finished the 17-acre complex was one of the largest athletic fields in the United States. New Beaver Field Blueprint

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

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 George Washington Atherton (June 20, 1837 – July 24, 1906), soldier and educator. He was president of the Pennsylvania State University from 1882 until his death in 1906. Early life He was the son of Hiram Atherton (18121849) and Almira ...

the former president of the university who had died just years earlier. 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. As Penn State's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

teams began playing home games on New Beaver Field, crowds easily filled the 1,200-capacity grandstands. The university continued to expand the seating capacity by building wood bleachers onto the existing grandstands. A total of 4,800 bleacher seats were added by the end of the 1920s, bringing the total capacity of the stadium to 6,000. The stadium's seating was again restructured in the early 1930s 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. 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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

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 gave the structure more of an air of permanence. As enrollments 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 led by Byron J. Lambert, a grandstand patent holder and former professor at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

; and was quickly completed by 1949. 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. After the removal of the grandstands in 1959 the parcel of land that New Beaver Field was located on was repurposed to build university education buildings and eventually the

References

External links

Venue information
{{Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer navbox College track and field venues in the United States Defunct college baseball venues in the United States Defunct college football venues Defunct college soccer venues in the United States Penn State Nittany Lions baseball Penn State Nittany Lions football Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer Penn State Nittany Lions track and field American football venues in Pennsylvania Athletics (track and field) venues in Pennsylvania Baseball venues in Pennsylvania Defunct sports venues in Pennsylvania Soccer venues in Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1909 1909 establishments in Pennsylvania 1959 disestablishments in Pennsylvania