Memorial Stadium is the current home of Indiana State University football in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Constructed in 1923-24 by the City of Terre Haute to seat approximately 16,000 people, the facility's initial primary use was as the home of the Terre Haute Baseball Club, aka the Terre Haute Tots, a minor league team in the Three-I League; a Class B team. Class B is the equivalent of today's Class A baseball. The stadium was officially dedicated on May 4, 1925 and was universally hailed as the nation's finest minor league baseball stadium. Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was present to throw out the first pitch of the season opening game between Terre Haute and the Peoria Tractors. The stadium and its grounds also were used for semi-pro, high school and college football and baseball, professional boxing, circuses, fireworks exhibitions, ice skating and miscellaneous conventions and other events.
Later tenants of Memorial Stadium were the Terre Haute Phillies, a farm club of the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Terre Haute Huts, which had a working agreement with the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, Terre Haute's long association (since 1883) with professional baseball ended on July 3, 1956.
In 1967, Indiana State University became the first university in the world to own and operate an outdoor artificial playing surface. The stadium, except for its outside wall and memorial arch, was razed in 1968-69, and converted to a football stadium. As a result, it has little resemblance to the majestic amphitheater constructed in the early Twenties. The field was upgraded in 2009 with a new FieldTurf playing surface, at a cost of $750,000.
Memorial Stadium, which has a current capacity of 12,764, also hosts the annual High School football game (previously the homecoming game) between Terre Haute rivals North-South as they play for the 'Liberty Bell'.
There are tentative plans to construct a new multi-purpose stadium on the Indiana State campus, 3 miles to the west. Memorial Stadium would likely then be razed; with the exception of the last portion of original Memorial Stadium; the Arch.
In June 2010, Head Coach Trent Miles, requested permission to begin construction of two practice fields, immediately north of Memorial Stadium; they would alleve scheduled conflicts for practices and provide additional fields for Terre Haute-area youth football and high school programs.
Famous quotes containing the words memorial and/or stadium:
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—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)