Dunham Field at O'Harra Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

stadium in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located on the campus of the

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers ba ...

(SDSM&T) in

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. It is the home of the

South Dakota Mines Hardrockers The South Dakota Mines Hardrockers (also referred to as the South Dakota Tech Hardrockers, SDSMT Hardrockers, and SDSM&T Hardrockers) are the athletic teams that represent South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, located in Rapid City, South D ...

of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, as well as Rapid City's two public

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

(

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and Stevens). The stadium is named after SDSM&T's eighth president, Dr. Cleophas C. O'Harra (who decided on the location), and the field is named after two alumni boosters, George & Nancy Dunham. The stadium has a unique design, consisting of standard bleacher and box seating to one side and a three-tiered terrace on the opposite side, consisting of 250 paved parking spots allowing spectators to tailgate and watch games from their vehicles. A track also encircles the field, allowing its use for

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

events. The artificial turf field has a northwest–southeast alignment at an approximate

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

History

In 1930, the School of Mines obtained an area southeast of SDSM&T campus that was previous used as a garbage dump and feeding area for swine, based on suggestions from landscape artist Phelps Myman. That year's pledges to Sigma Tau were then tasked with designing the field and stadium. President O’Harra declared a holiday for students on May 18, 1931, allowing the student body to come and level the field ''en masse'', in preparation for proper construction. Work between 1932 until its completion in 1938 was done by a mixture of unskilled workers from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) and skilled laborers paid by donations collected by the school's alumni association. Work was completed and the stadium dedicated on September 16, 1938, with an 18–7 victory over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The Hardrockers finished the season 8–0 (after a forfeit by Yankton College) and won that year's conference championship. The stadium underwent a $1.75 million expansion and modernization in later years through support by various state, city, county, and school entities. The field was named Dunham Field in 2004. A further $2.5 million in renovations to O'Harra were proposed in September 2016 and slated for the summer of 2017.

References

{{South Dakota college football venues American football venues in South Dakota Athletics (track and field) venues in South Dakota College football venues High school football venues in the United States South Dakota Mines Hardrockers football Buildings and structures in Rapid City, South Dakota 1938 establishments in South Dakota Sports venues completed in 1938