Beaver Field

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title: "Beaver Field" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["defunct-college-baseball-venues-in-the-united-states", "defunct-college-football-venues", "penn-state-nittany-lions-baseball", "penn-state-nittany-lions-football", "penn-state-nittany-lions-sports-venues", "college-football-venues-in-pennsylvania", "college-baseball-venues-in-pennsylvania", "1893-establishments-in-pennsylvania", "sports-venues-completed-in-1893", "1909-disestablishments-in-pennsylvania"] description: "Sports field in Pennsylvania, US, 1892–1908" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Field" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Sports field in Pennsylvania, US, 1892–1908 ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox venue"]

Field	Value
name	Beaver Field
nickname	Old Beaver Field
image	Old beaver field grandstand.jpg
caption	Grandstands of Beaver Field.
fullname	Beaver Field
location	University Park, Pennsylvania
coordinates
broke_ground	1891
opened	1893
closed
owner	Penn State University
operator	Penn State University
surface	Grass
construction_cost	$3,000
architect
tenants	{{plainlist
seating_capacity	500
::

| name = Beaver Field | nickname = Old Beaver Field | image = Old beaver field grandstand.jpg | caption = Grandstands of Beaver Field. | fullname = Beaver Field | location = University Park, Pennsylvania | coordinates = | broke_ground = 1891 | built = | opened = 1893 | renovated = | expanded = | closed = | demolished = | owner = Penn State University | operator = Penn State University | surface = Grass | construction_cost = $3,000 | architect = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | general_contractor = | project_manager = | main_contractors = | former_names = | tenants = {{plainlist|

• Penn State football (1893–1908)
• Penn State baseball (1893–1908) | seating_capacity = 500 Beaver Field (1892–1908), was the first official home to the Penn State football and baseball teams in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. Retroactively known as "Old Beaver Field", it had a capacity of 500 and stood between present-day Osmond and Frear Laboratories, now the site of a parking lot.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Old_Beaver_Field_Location.png" caption="Baseball game on the original Old Beaver Field location, ca. 1877–78. Window frame in upper-left corner shows that photo was taken from an upper floor of the Chemistry-Physics Building."] ::

Until the construction of Beaver Field, sports teams of the then Pennsylvania State College, known as the Nittany Lions, played on the Old Main Lawn, a grassy area outside the main classroom building. Beaver Field served as the first official home for the football and baseball teams.

The football team moved in 1909 to New Beaver Field, which held 30,000 fans and served as Penn State's home stadium until 1959, when it was disassembled and moved to the current location of Beaver Stadium in 1960. After the move to New Beaver Field, the original field became known as Old Beaver Field.

The field had a grandstand that seated 500. This took the form of a hip-roofed building with no side walls, supported by rows of six columns at the front and rear plus one on each side. A gable at the front bore the name "Beaver Field", below it the year, 1893, and "P.S.C."

Beaver Field was named in June 1892 for James A. Beaver, who was governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891. Although the state did not usually fund athletics in its public colleges, leaving that to student fees and alumni gifts, Beaver had a line added to the legislative appropriation for Pennsylvania State College that provided $2,000 in 1891–92 and $1,000 in 1893–94 for improving its athletic grounds. These funds made it possible to lay out a quarter-mile track enclosing baseball and football grounds, tennis courts, and a grandstand.

Beaver Field began as a plot of grass on Penn State's campus located in the academic village. The land was designated for athletics by faculty in 1875 with growing demand for sport. By 1890 the grass field had a dirt running track, a baseball diamond and a football field and a set of covered wooden bleachers with a seating capacity of 100.

Calls from students pushed the university to begin exploring its options to expand its athletic facilities. Then university president James A. Beaver was able to use his political influence as the former Governor of Pennsylvania to push Pennsylvania's legislature to appropriate funds to build a proper athletics facility.

Penn State received $2,000 () in 1891, and an additional $1,000 () in 1893 to help construct Beaver Field, a stadium with a grandstand, football field, and quarter mile track.

References

References

1. (2017). "Lair of the Lion: A History of Beaver Stadium". Pennsylvania State University.
2. Geoff Rushton. (June 13, 2011). "Beaver Stadium: The Home of Penn State Football".
3. (2017). "Lair of the lion : a history of Beaver Stadium".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::