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.
| 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 |
| Opened | 1909 |
| Closed | 1959 |
| Tenants | |
| Penn State Nittany Lions football (1909–1959) | |
New Beaver Field held 30,000 people at its peak and was opened in 1909 with a 31–0 win over Grove City. It was built to the northeast of Rec Hall on the present sites of the Nittany Lion Inn and the Nittany Parking Deck. It was originally built entirely of wood, but was reinforced with steel in 1936. 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.[1] Because of this, 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.
References
- Beaver Stadium: A Visual History Through the Years, Onward State, September 9, 2015.