As part of our mission, the Evanston History Center from time to time provides readers with historical context related to today’s issues. With so much recent focus on the issue of rebuilding Ryan Field, we turned our attention to exploring the history of Northwestern University’s athletic fields. This article is the first in a four-part series.
Early days: From unnamed fields to Sheppard Field
In September 1891, the Evanston Press reported that Northwestern University authorities had authorized the creation of a “new athletic field,” east of Sheridan Road, north of the Dearborn Observatory and north of Noyes Street (a site, pre-lakefill, that was closer to the lakeshore than it is today.)[1]
Until then, for almost four decades after the founding of Northwestern University, sports (primarily baseball and football) were played by students, although no formal recreation grounds were available. The game of baseball was reportedly first played on a small diamond “laid out in a meadow next to Old College, then located at Davis Street and Hinman Avenue.”[2] Later, games were played on an unnamed campus field near Sheridan Road. Spectators were “compelled to use the turf for grandstand and ‘bleachers.’”[3]
“I played on the team while a student in the preparatory school in 1881,” recounted Northwestern student Harry Hamill. “We gathered three or four afternoons a week to practice and play informal games. Our greatest difficulty was obtaining a ball, since we had to buy them ourselves and few of us were plentifully supplied with money. The games attracted few spectators. Occasionally, students would stop by and watch us practice, but the principal interest was baseball.”[4]
By 1891, university trustees were said to have inaugurated a “very liberal policy … in regards to college athletics” and pledged to meet “the growing demands of the department of physical culture.”[5]
Northwestern trustees set aside $7,000 for the building of a proper field, which would include facilities for baseball, football and track.[6] Ultimately, a tennis court, running track, baseball diamond and gridiron were included on the “recreation grounds.”[7] (In winter, parts of the field froze over and ice skating was also enjoyed there.[8])
One of the first major additions to the field was a covered grandstand, with seating for a thousand spectators. George Muir, an Evanston resident who owned the University Bookstore on Davis Street, was responsible for raising the funds after he “started an energetic movement to raise money for a grandstand.”[10] He solicited alumni, Evanston residents and undergraduates, eventually raising $2,500.
The first game on the new field took place on 4th of July 1892, when the Idlewilds and Carletons of the Club League played a benefit game, with proceeds to go toward the grandstand fund.[11]
Game day, August, 1892: “The Sheridan Drive was filled with carriages for the length of a block and in each was a group of interested spectators,” reported the Evanston Press about a summer baseball game that attracted many to the new field. “The grandstand, with its shade and balmy lake breeze, offered a pleasant place from which to view the game, and many took advantage of it.”
One of the teams chartered a boat from Chicago and sailed to Dempster Street pier. Unfortunately, the offshore wind interfered, and the game was delayed for more than an hour before the ship was able to dock.[12]
Soon it was decided the field needed to be fenced in, thereby regulating ticket-carrying spectators at the games and increasing revenue. Work began on an 8-foot-tall fence in October 1893.[13] In the fall of 1893, Northwestern treasurer, business manager and Evanston resident Robert Sheppard donated the lumber to build the fence, with the stipulation that university students would do the actual work to construct it.[14] For this, as well as for Sheppard’s ongoing support of athletics at Northwestern, the students hailed Sheppard in a ceremony:
In November 1893, a procession of students, blowing tin horns and beating drums, made their way to Sheppard’s Evanston residence. As a token of their gratitude, they presented him with a silver card inscribed with the following words:
“This card confers on Dr. R.D. Sheppard the privileges of athletic field and is presented to him by the students as a token of appreciation of the many kindnesses received by them.”
After the presentation, the students set off fireworks. Sheppard addressed the crowd: “It hardly seems to me that anything I have done is worthy of such a demonstration as this. I saw that money put into that fence would be a good financial investment – and simply made the investment. I am heartily in sympathy with your athletics … I feel grateful for the spirit that athletics has taken. I hope that Northwestern will stand as well as anybody in athletics.”[15]
By 1897, it was reported that many referred to the site as Sheppard Field, despite the fact that no official naming of the athletic grounds had yet occurred.
“The name merits general adoption,” an observer noted. “The western universities, with few exceptions, have christened their athletic fields with the name of some prominent benefactor of the institution. … No man could be found whose name is better suited for adoption, either because of his broad interest in athletics or because of his practical assistance, which secured the completion of the grounds. Long may Northwestern boast of Sheppard Field.”[16] The name was soon adopted.
College athletics grew in popularity as the student body itself grew. By 1897, the northern half of the Northwestern campus was described as being “devoted to athletics.”[18] The crowd of fans increased as students engaged “tally ho coaches” to travel to games and learned how to “root” for the Northwestern teams.[19] Tickets for games were offered on sale in Chicago and at various drug stores in Evanston. (General admission $1.) At one point, a local newspaper instructed spectators on a “new yell” to be “repeated slowly in unison:” North-west-ern! (emphasis on “west.”)[20]
The ‘stadium idea’: Dyche leads calls for new facility
Around 1902, Northwestern trustees began to investigate the “advisability of moving the athletic field” to another site.[22] As football and other college sports grew in popularity, a larger facility was needed, they argued. Across the United States, colleges and universities were increasingly embracing the “stadium idea,” with campus athletic facilities “designed to follow the old Greek idea of an athletic amphitheater.”[23]
By 1903, a “new era in athletics” was announced by Northwestern University as officials revealed plans to establish a new field “north of Central Street and west of the Milwaukee electric line.”[24] The planned athletic field was to be built on a site on Central Street in Evanston, bounded to the north by Isabella Street. The land was part of the 157 acres donated to the university in 1865 by Orrington Lunt, one of Northwestern’s founders.[25]
It was reported at the time that the decision to move was made in part because the land upon which Sheppard Field stood was “now very valuable” and its value was “injured by the presence of the field and its enclosing high board fence.”[26]
The location of the new field, officials explained, would allow competing teams to take the Chicago and Northwestern trains and get off at the Central Street station, near the field. Spectators from Chicago would also find quicker access to the site. Additionally, Evanston’s streetcar line took a route on Central Street and passed the new site, giving local residents easy access.
“With a new athletic field and a new athletic director, better things are expected of Northwestern than in the past,” wrote the Evanston Index.
Leading the call for the new facility was William Dyche, a Northwestern graduate who in 1903 succeeded Robert Sheppard as Northwestern’s business manager.
At the same time as the new athletic site was proposed, Northwestern officials announced a plan for securing a new gymnasium, first planning to locate it in an existing building in downtown Evanston and then proposing that an entirely new structure be built. The university’s old gym had been completed in 1882.[27] The new field, it was argued, will cause “alumni and others [to] realize Northwestern is once more in the athletic game to stay” and that fact would encourage donations for a new gym. [28]
First, funds need to be raised for the creation of the Central Street athletic field. About $15,000 (roughly $14 million in today’s dollars) was needed, Dyche stated. (That amount quickly increased to $20,000.)[29] In the meantime, university officials announced that Sheppard Field would be “improved” by the addition of bleachers, which would double the field’s seating accommodations.[30]
Many in Evanston were enthusiastic about the prospects of a new athletic facility.
“Businessmen of Evanston should find in the program for a new Northwestern athletic field … a matter very near to their interests,” the Evanston Index wrote. “Concretely stated, the proposition is simple: A new football field means larger crowds at the games next fall. Larger crowds mean money. Much of that money will be spent with Evanston merchants. It is a perfect syllogism.”[31]
But not everyone backed the new field. Some Northwestern students reportedly didn’t want the new facility on Central Street.
“There is a strong student sentiment in favor of retaining the old grounds,” noted the Evanston Index.[32] “One argument against the new grounds is that it is too far from the gymnasium, campus and college world.”[33]
Plans for the new field moved ahead as Northwestern officials undertook a fundraising campaign.
“Cheer Up! New Field Coming,” the Evanston Index announced in late October 1904.[34] The paper reported that more than half the amount needed for the new field had been subscribed and “the end is in sight.” At one point, it was even promised that President Theodore Roosevelt would be on hand to dedicate the new field. (He wasn’t.)[35]
There was no doubt that Evanston Mayor John Thomas Barker helped the project succeed. He was praised for “efforts in raising the money for the field and overcoming the numberless obstacles which stood in the way.”[36]
At an annual “football dinner” in December 1904, Barker “brought down the house” when he announced that $20,000 had been raised and the new field was “assured.”[37]
The project was underway by the spring of 1905. (The total cost was reported to be $25,000.)[38]
In the midst of construction of the new field, Sheppard Field was “demolished,” constituting a “sad sight to the many old students of the university in and about town who have witnessed the struggles of the purple in victory and defeat. Its passing seems to leave a large hole in the landscape after it has been for so many years one of the landmarks of the lakeshore.”[39]
Some noted that the old field’s demolition would spur the area’s development. “The building land along Sheridan Road in the vicinity of the field,” reported the Evanston Index, “has long remained unoccupied because the high fence and the ungainly grandstand shut off the view of the lake and, except to the eye of the university enthusiast, made an ugly blur on the landscape.”[40]
The new field, it was also noted, would be far removed from the cold winds that blew from the lakefront and it would be free of the muddy fields that marred the old recreation area. The area immediately around the new planned athletic field – until 1874 part of the village of North Evanston – was fairly sparsely populated by houses and businesses. World-renowned horticulturist, landscape architect and florist Richard F. Gloede (1871-1939) owned and operated greenhouses at 1405-07 Central St. They would stand along the east side of the new Northwestern field for years after it was built.
Up next: Part 2: On Northwestern Field
Special thanks to Students Publishing Company for granting permission to use images from the Northwestern University Syllabus Yearbook.
[1] “Prof. Kellogg Rides a Wheel,” Evanston Press, Sept. 19, 1891.
[2] Walter Paulison, The Tale of the Wildcats: A Centennial History of the Northwestern University Athletics (N.P.: C.O. Owen and Co, 1951), 1.
[3] Robert D. Sheppard and Harvey Bostwick Hurd, History of Northwestern University and Evanston (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1906), 161-162.
[4] Walter Paulison, The Tale of the Wildcats: A Centennial History of the Northwestern University Athletics (N.P.: C.O. Owen and Co, 1951), 17.
[5] “Appropriations by the University,” Evanston Press, Oct. 3, 1891.
[6] “Appropriations by the University,” Evanston Press, Oct. 3, 1891.
[7] Charles M. Stuart, “The Story of Northwestern University,” The Christian Advocate, Oct. 23, 1902, 16.
[8] “The University,” Evanston Press, February 9, 1895.
[9] Arthur Herbert Wilde, Northwestern University: A History, 1855-1905 Vol. 2. (New York: United States: University Publishing Company, 1905), 192.
[10] Robert D. Sheppard and Harvey Bostwick Hurd, History of Northwestern University and Evanston (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1906), 191.
[11] “Fourth of July Game,” Evanston Index, July 2, 1892.
[12] “The Last Game in Evanston,” Evanston Press, Aug. 27, 1892.
[13] “The University,” Evanston Press, Oct. 7, 1893.
[14] “University Notes,” Evanston Index, Oct. 14, 1893.
[15] “Testimonial to Dr. Sheppard,” Evanston Press, Nov. 4, 1893.
[16] Editorial, The Northwestern, Oct. 28, 1897.
[17] “Northwestern University,” Beta Thea Pi, Dec. 1903, 165.
[18] “The Northwestern University,” The Delta, March 15, 1898, 167.
[19] “Club News,” Evanston Index, November 14, 1896.
[20] “Watch Yell Master,” The Northwestern, November 11, 1904.
[21] “From the Clubs,” Evanston Press, August 3, 1895.
[22] “City News,” Evanston Index, May 7, 1904.
[23] “Columbia’s Proposed Athletic Field,” American Educational Review, Vol XXVII, April 1906, 304.
[24] “New Era in Athletics,” Evanston Index, January 3 1903.
[25] Estelle Frances War, The Story of Northwestern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1924), 222; Robert D. Sheppard and Harvey Bostwick Hurd, History of Northwestern University and Evanston (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1906), 236.
[26] “New Athletic Field,” Evanston Press, Jan. 3, 1903.
[27] “The University,” Northwestern University Record, March 1894, 45.
[28] “Field Will Bring Gym,” Evanston Index, Aug. 13, 1904.
[29] “Field Will Bring Gym,” Evanston Index, Aug. 13, 1904.
[30] “Site for New Athletic Field,” Evanston Index, July 23, 1904.
[31] “The New Athletic Field,” Evanston Index, Aug. 13, 1904.
[32] “City News,” Evanston Index, May 7, 1904.
[33] “Northwestern’s Gym Plans,” Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1903.
[34] “Cheer Up! New Field Coming,” Evanston Index, Oct. 29, 1904.
[35] “Roosevelt to Dedicate New Athletic Field,” Evanston Index, Nov. 19, 1904.
[36] “Right Man in the Right Place,” Evanston Index, Jan., 20, 1905.
[37] “Give Annual Banquet,” Northwestern, Dec. 2, 1904; “New Athletic Field Assured,” Evanston Index, Dec. 4, 1904.
[38] Bulletin of Northwestern University (Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern University, 1908), 41.
[39] “Old Field Passes,” Evanston Index, June 30, 1905.
[40] “Old Field Passes,” Evanston Index, June 30, 1905.
Entertaining and informative. One caveat: the railroad was the Chicago and North Western Railway until its 1995 absorption into Union Pacific. It was never, ever Northwestern.
Thanks to the Evanston History Center for sharing the story of how Northwestern’s athletic campus came to be. With nearly every inch of our town long ago developed, it’s hard to conceive of 157 acres being available for the rapid growth of the university and Evanston. As your summary recounts, “the area immediately around the new planned athletic field…was fairly sparsely populated by houses and businesses.” So, the historical record indicates our 7th ward neighborhood filled in the surrounding area… with the then new athletic campus as something of an anchor point. As such, the suggestion that “past is prologue” is correct if one means an engine of economic development. However, the insinuation that there was ill intent (then or now) is simply unfounded. I imagine the first owner of my home looking at this lot so close to the athletic fields and saying “Yes! I want to live here.” Multiple generations since have taken stock of an ever evolving athletic campus and said the same. Count me in!
Great article, it’s unfortunate that NU has ventured so far from its educational mission and that the university and is attempting to turn their athletic campus (the U2 district), into a commercial entertainment district.
As stated in the article, “It was reported at the time that the decision to move was made in part because the land upon which Sheppard Field stood was “now very valuable” and its value was “injured by the presence of the field and its enclosing high board fence.”[26]
That statement is one of the truths that is as similar today as it was back in early 1900s. Northwestern, did not have regard for other people’s property values or quality of life when it came to NU bottom line. To improve the value of their properties, NU moved the field to where other people would be negatively impacted.