Today's Tidbit... Grandstanding in Early Football

I'm not an architectural historian, but that has not stopped me from noticing how some old-time football stadiums had covered grandstands. I'm not referring to stadiums with lower-level seats covered by an upper deck, only stadiums that cover a single level of seating.

The word "grandstand" is used inconsistently. Some consider grandstands to be tiered, with individual seats rather than benches. Others suggest that grandstands have a roof over the ticket buyers’ heads, and bleachers are the seats without cover. This article will adopt the latter definition that says the covered areas are grandstands.

In the early days, few purpose-built football stadiums existed. Big games were played at minor and major league baseball parks with varying configurations. By the 1890s, some faculties frowned on playing games at off-campus stadiums, so schools began building their own stadiums. Whether on campus or not, most stadiums were designed for football and baseball or football and track. Most did not have covers or grandstands, but let’s look at some examples that did.

Corner Grandstands

Below are circa 1888 plans for Princeton's new athletic field with the grandstands in a corner of the football field, but positioned properly for baseball.

The image below shows Princeton’s Phil King preparing to kick off as his teammates align in the V Trick. As seen in the previous drawing, the covered grandstand sits in the corner of the field.

Here’s the grandstand at Wesleyan’s Andrus Field, also situated in the corner for baseball.

(Wesleyan University Digital Collection)

Before Sanford Stadium, Georgia had Sanford Field, which included a baseball-friendly corner grandstand. (1920 Georgia yearbook)

Midfield Grandstands

Off-campus stadiums with grandstands centered at midfield were often used for cricket or horse racing, while those built on campus generally had running tracks between the stands and the field. They played the 1893 Penn-Cornell game at the Manheim Cricket Ground, which had a grandstand on one side of the field.

1893 Penn-Cornell game at Manheim Cricket Grounds (University of Pennsylvania Archives)

Syracuse opened their beautiful concrete Archbold Stadium in 1907, covering part of one side.

It is difficult to tell if Washington & Jefferson’s grandstand is centered, though it appears to be in the baseball outfield.

The Kansas State stands were sparse in the early 1910s, but they covered what they had. (1912 Kansas State yearbook)

It was dangerous to Jump Around at Camp Randall before the stadium was converted to concrete.

(Personal collection)

Washington fans were among the few to enjoy grandstanding on both sides of the field.

(1915 Washington yearbook)

Even the folks up north had grandstands, as witnessed by Queen’s University’s George Richardson Stadium. Built in 1921, Queen’s hosted and won the Stanley Cup there in 1922, back when amateur teams competed for the Cup.

(Personal collection)

I can’t add more images without exceeding Substack’s email size limits, so I must end it for now. If you know of schools that have had grandstands in the past, let us know in the comments below.

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