{{Short description|Sports field in Pennsylvania, US, 1892–1908}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox venue | name = Beaver Field | nickname = Old Beaver Field | image = Old beaver field grandstand.jpg | caption = Grandstands of Beaver Field. | fullname = Beaver Field | location = [[University Park, Pennsylvania]] | coordinates = {{coord|40|47|56.4|N|77|51|47.0|W|display=it}} | broke_ground = 1891 | built = | opened = 1893 | renovated = | expanded = | closed = {{end date and age|1909}} | demolished = | owner = [[Penn State University]] | operator = Penn State University | surface = Grass | construction_cost = $3,000 | architect = <!-- F. L. Olds --> | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | general_contractor = | project_manager = | main_contractors = | former_names = | tenants = {{plainlist| * [[Penn State Nittany Lions football|Penn State football]] (1893–1908) * [[Penn State Nittany Lions baseball|Penn State baseball]] (1893–1908) }} | seating_capacity = 500 }} '''Beaver Field''' (1892–1908), was the first official home to the [[Pennsylvania State University|Penn State]] [[Penn State Nittany Lions football|football]] and [[Penn State Nittany Lions baseball|baseball]] teams in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. Retroactively known as "Old Beaver Field", it had a capacity of 500 and stood between present-day Osmond and Frear Laboratories, now the site of a parking lot.
== History == [[File:Old Beaver Field Location.png|thumb|right|Baseball game on the original Old Beaver Field location, ca. 1877–78. Window frame in upper-left corner shows that photo was taken from an upper floor of the Chemistry-Physics Building.]] Until the construction of Beaver Field, sports teams of the then Pennsylvania State College, known as the [[Nittany Lions]], played on the [[Old Main (Pennsylvania State University)|Old Main Lawn]], a grassy area outside the main classroom building. Beaver Field served as the first official home for the [[American football|football]] and [[baseball]] teams.
The football team moved in 1909 to [[New Beaver Field]], which held 30,000 fans and served as Penn State's home stadium until 1959, when it was disassembled and moved to the current location of [[Beaver Stadium]] in 1960. After the move to New Beaver Field, the original field became known as Old Beaver Field.
The field had a grandstand that seated 500. This took the form of a [[Hip roof|hip-roofed]] building with no side walls, supported by rows of six columns at the front and rear plus one on each side. A gable at the front bore the name "Beaver Field", below it the year, 1893, and "P.S.C."<ref name=book>{{cite book |author1=Lee Stout |author2=Harry H. West |title=Lair of the Lion: A History of Beaver Stadium |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP39 |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |year=2017 |isbn=9780271077765 |page=39 }}</ref>
Beaver Field was named in June 1892 for [[James A. Beaver]], who was [[governor of Pennsylvania]] from 1887 to 1891. Although the state did not usually fund athletics in its public colleges, leaving that to student fees and alumni gifts, Beaver had a line added to the legislative appropriation for Pennsylvania State College that provided $2,000 in 1891–92 and $1,000 in 1893–94 for improving its athletic grounds. These funds made it possible to lay out a quarter-mile track enclosing baseball and football grounds, tennis courts, and a grandstand.<ref name=book/> The field opened on November 6, 1893, after a two-day weather delay, with a game against [[University of Pittsburgh|Western University of Pennsylvania]] that Penn State won 32–0.<ref>{{cite web |author=Geoff Rushton |url=https://news.psu.edu/story/157346/2011/06/13/beaver-stadium-home-penn-state-football |title=Beaver Stadium: The Home of Penn State Football |website=Penn State News |date=June 13, 2011 |access-date=April 21, 2019 }}</ref>
Beaver Field began as a plot of grass on Penn State's campus located in the academic village. The land was designated for athletics by faculty in 1875 with growing demand for sport. By 1890 the grass field had a dirt running track, a baseball diamond and a football field and a set of covered wooden bleachers with a seating capacity of 100.
Calls from students pushed the university to begin exploring its options to expand its athletic facilities. Then university president [[James A. Beaver]] was able to use his political influence as the former Governor of Pennsylvania to push Pennsylvania's legislature to appropriate funds to build a proper athletics facility.
Penn State received $2,000 ({{Inflation|US|2000|1891|fmt=eq}}) in 1891, and an additional $1,000 ({{Inflation|US|1000|1893|fmt=eq}}) in 1893 to help construct Beaver Field, a stadium with a grandstand, football field, and quarter mile track.<ref name="Lair">{{cite book |last1=Stout |first1=Leon J. |title=Lair of the lion : a history of Beaver Stadium |date=2017 |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-271-07776-5 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{commons category}} {{Penn State Nittany Lions football navbox}} {{Penn State Nittany Lions baseball navbox}}
[[Category:Defunct college baseball venues in the United States]] [[Category:Defunct college football venues]] [[Category:Penn State Nittany Lions baseball]] [[Category:Penn State Nittany Lions football]] [[Category:Penn State Nittany Lions sports venues]] [[Category:College football venues in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:College baseball venues in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:1893 establishments in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Sports venues completed in 1893]] [[Category:1909 disestablishments in Pennsylvania]]