History
The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues, from 136th to 138th Street in 1915. Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction. The stadium hosted many athletic, musical, and theatrical events and was one of New York's public landmarks. It was demolished in 1973 to make way for the $125 million North Academic Center.
Besides sporting events, the stadium was used for performances by Ella Fitzgerald, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic (sometimes called the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra"), Marian Anderson, and Eugene Ormandy. George Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue. Performers ranged from Van Cliburn, Jascha Heifetz, and Yehudi Menuhin to Leontyne Price, Pete Seeger, Thomas Hayward (tenor), Jack Benny, and conductor Kurt Adler of the Metropolitan Opera.
The stadium was annually used by City College (CCNY) for its commencement exercises - a single massive happening for all CCNY's Schools: Liberal Arts, Engineering & Architecture, and even CCNY's 23rd Str. (Manhattan) Business School - Now Baruch College, CUNY, this continued through the end of the 60's. Likewise it was used for CCNY's annual Army ROTC's end of academic year Reviews. Along with Jasper Oval (also now gone) which was across the street (Convent Avenue) it was used throughout the academic year for many/most of the College's uptown campus outdoor intramural sports.
Read more about this topic: Lewisohn Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)