With its future unclear, the history of State College’s landmark Memorial Field will be the subject of a public lecture Wednesday.
Penn State Professor Emeritus Ronald A. Smith is scheduled to deliver the free, hour-long lecture at noon in Foster Auditorium, in Paterno Library, University Park. Sponsored by the University Archives, the lecture will illustrate how a borough sinkhole was developed first into a baseball field — and, later, in the Depression era, into the stone-walled stadium familiar today.
In addition, Smith will discuss how Memorial Field — which retains an active sinkhole — drains surface storm water from part of State College borough, according to a news release. ‘How the school board negotiated the draining of State College run-off water into the sinkhole with the State College borough will be part of the discussion,’ the release reads.
The Works Progress Administration, formed in 1935 under then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, made possible the location’s development as a bona fide sports stadium.
Smith’s Wednesday presentation will come at a timely point in State College. Parts of Memorial Field have deteriorated in recent years. A portion of the west-side bleachers has been closed for safety reasons. Parts of the stadium’s stone walls have begun to crumble.
Back in June, State College Area school-board members voted 7-2 to approve the drafting of specific plans for a Memorial Field overhaul. But it remains unclear when money may be budgeted or available to cover any of the anticipated construction phases there, expected to cost $15 million to $16 million overall. The first phase alone is projected to cost more than $2 million.
Board members have said they’d like private fundraising to play a central role in financing the facility overhaul.
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