Welcome to TBT — Throwback Thursday — where we take a look at historic images from the State College area and Penn State.
When the Penn State football team takes the field at Beaver Stadium on April 16 for the Blue-White game, it will be a much different environment than that in which their forebears played when Penn State’s first football field opened in 1893.
It, too, was named for General James A. Beaver, a Pennsylvania governor and important figure in Penn State history as president of the school’s Board of Trustees. Beaver Field, built with funds secured from the state by Beaver, opened in 1893 and this photo from the Penn State Libraries University Archives was taken around 1900. Before the 500 seat venue opened near what are today Osmond and Frear laboratories, Penn State’s teams mostly played on Old Main Lawn. The first game played there was a 32-0 Penn State win against what is today the University of Pittsburgh in November 1893.
Beaver Field didn’t remain Penn State football’s home for long. In 1909, New Beaver Field was built near where Rec Hall now stands. It stayed there, expanding to 30,000 seats and converting from wood to steel, until 1959 when it was dismantled, moved a mile east and expanded by 16,000 seats to create Beaver Stadium.
Today, of course, Beaver Stadium seats 107,000 and is the nation’s second largest stadiums, as well as one of its most recognizable.
Beaver Field Circa 1900 (Photo Courtesy of Penn State University Archives)
