Stagg Field

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Stagg Field is the name of two different football fields for the University of Chicago.

The first Stagg Field was a stadium at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. It was primarily used for American football, and was the home field of the University of Chicago. Stagg Field originally opened in 1893 as Marshall Field after Marshall Field donated land to the university to build the stadium. In 1913, the field was renamed Stagg Field after their famous coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. The final capacity, after several stadium expansions, was 50,000. The University of Chicago discontinued its football program after 1939 and left the Big Ten in 1946. The stadium was demolished in 1957.

The field is more well known for its place in the Manhattan Project. On December 2, 1942 Enrico Fermi and his team set off the first nuclear chain reaction at Chicago Pile-1 in a racquets court under the west stands of the abandoned stadium. The old Stagg Field plot of land is currently home to the Regenstein Library.

The current Stagg Field is an athletic field located several blocks to the northwest that preserves the Stagg Field name, as well as a relocated gate from the original facility. The school's football team uses the new field as their home.

Some pictures of the old and new Stagg Fields can be found here, thanks to Google's image search.