Harvard Stadium

File:Harvard_Stadium_1903.png

Harvard Stadium was constructed on {{convert|31|acre}} of land known as Soldiers Field, donated to Harvard University by former Harvard College student and University patron Henry Lee Higginson in 1890 as a memorial to Harvard men who had died in the Civil War {{nowrap|(1861–1865).{{refn|{{cite book|author=Harvard University|title=Education, bricks and mortar: Harvard buildings and their contribution to the advancement of learning|chapter=Memorial Hall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRI8AAAAIAAJ|year=1949|page=82n|publisher=The University |isbn=9780674238855 }} }}}} The structure, similar in shape to the Panathenaic Stadium, was completed in just {{Frac|4|1|2}} months, costing $310,000. Much of the funds raised came from a 25th reunion gift by Harvard's Class of 1879. It is the home of Harvard's football team. The stadium also hosted the Crimson track and field teams until 1984 and was the home of the Boston Patriots during the 1970 season, until Schaefer Stadium opened the following year to fulfill post-AFL–NFL merger minimum seating requirements requiring a 50,000+ seat venue. Harvard Stadium was the largest concrete stadium in the nation until the construction of Syracuse University's Archbold Stadium in 1907.{{cite news |last1=Searing |first1=Robert |title=In 1907, Syracuse University opens Archbold Stadium, called then the 'greatest athletic arena in America' |url=https://www.syracuse.com/living/2021/09/in-1907-syracuse-university-opens-archbold-stadium-called-then-the-greatest-athletic-arena-in-america.html |access-date=12 October 2021 |work=The Post-Standard |location=Syracuse, NY |date=29 September 2021 |language=en}}

Lewis Jerome Johnson, professor of civil engineering at Harvard, was a consultant to the design team for the stadium. It is historically significant that this stadium represents the first vertical concrete structure to employ reinforced structural concrete. Prior to the erection of the stadium in 1902, reinforced structural concrete was used in horizontal, that is flooring, sidewalks, etc., design only. Johnson was the engineer of note responsible for incorporating the concept into the vertical structure of the stadium design. There is a plaque dedicating the stadium to his honor on the east end wall outside the stadium.{{citation needed|date = October 2024}}

Harvard installed both FieldTurf and lights in 2006.{{cite web|title=Harvard Stadium|url=https://www.bostoncannons.com/harvard-stadium|publisher=Boston Cannons|access-date=April 24, 2016|archive-date=October 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010175317/http://www.bostoncannons.com/harvard-stadium|url-status=dead}} In 2007, Harvard played its first night game at the stadium, winning 24–17 over Brown University on September 22.{{cite news |url=http://www.espn.com/ncf/recap/_/id/272650108 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052934/http://www.espn.com/ncf/recap/_/id/272650108 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 2, 2017 |work=ESPN |agency=Associated Press |title=Harvard 24, Brown 17 |date=September 22, 2007|access-date=December 1, 2017}}{{cite news |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/9/23/football-topples-brown-in-historic-night/ |work=Harvard Crimson |location=(Cambridge, Massachusetts) |last=Glenn |first=Malcolm A. |title=Football topples Brown in historic night game |date=September 23, 2007 |access-date=December 1, 2017}}

In the early 20th century, American football was an extremely violent sport; 18 players died and 159 were seriously injured in 1905 alone.{{cite magazine|url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/09/first-and-100.html|title=First and 100|magazine=The Harvard Magazine|access-date=April 12, 2016}} There was a widespread movement to outlaw the game but U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt intervened and demanded the rules of the game be reformed. In 1906, Roosevelt met with representatives from 62 colleges and universities and formed the Intercollegiate Football Conference, the predecessor of the NCAA.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/football1.html|title=The 1905 Movement to Reform Football|publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=April 12, 2016}} The committee's purpose was to develop a uniform set of rules and regulations to make the game safer. A leading proposal, at the time, was widening the field to allow more running room and reduce serious collisions. While it was popular among committee members, Harvard objected. Their recently completed stadium could not accommodate a larger field. Because of the permanent nature of Harvard Stadium, the proposal was rejected and the forward pass was legalized in April 1906.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/sports/ncaafootball/22harvard.html |title=Saturday Night Lights: Harvard Stadium Joins the 21st Century|newspaper=The New York Times|date=22 September 2007 |access-date=April 12, 2016}} Harvard Stadium led to the creation of two of the most fundamental aspects of modern American football: standard field dimensions and the legal forward pass.

File:Harvard Stadium - 1910 Hockey.jpg

Early in its existence two ice rinks were built on the stadium during the winter months for the men's ice hockey team. The Stadium served as the home for the hockey team until World War I.{{cite web |url=https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/k/1/ky6ab0n88wjbyr/Timeline_of_Tradition.pdf |title=Timeline of Tradition |work=Harvard Crimson |access-date=January 6, 2020}}

Harvard Stadium was the site of the U.S. Olympic Trials for men's track and field in 1912, 1920, 1924, and 1928.{{citation needed|date = October 2024}}

It is also the host of music festivals like the Amandla Festival, where Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley performed a historic concert in 1979. Janis Joplin performed her last show at the stadium in 1970, shortly before her death. Other concerts included those by Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Van Morrison, The Band, B.B. King, Ike & Tina Turner, James Taylor, Joan Baez, Sly and the Family Stone, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, The Supremes, Mountain, Ten Years After and Johnny Mathis. During the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, the stadium hosted several soccer preliminaries.[http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v1pt1.pdf 1984 Summer Olympics official report.] Volume 1. Part 1. pp. 129-31. In 2007, the Boston Cannons, a professional lacrosse team for Major League Lacrosse, moved their home site to the stadium. They previously played at Boston University's Nickerson Field. They have since moved to Quincy, Massachusetts.Malcom A. Glenn, [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517262 Improved Stadium Scores Pro Team], Harvard Crimson, February 23, 2007.

Harvard installed FieldTurf and lights in 2006.{{citation needed|date = October 2024}}

Beginning on April 11, 2009, Harvard Stadium became the home field of the Boston Breakers of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league when they beat Saint Louis Athletica 2–0.{{citation needed|date = October 2024}}

Soccer games played at Harvard Stadium during the 1984 Summer Olympics

File:George H. W. Bush participates in the Opening Ceremonies for Olympic Soccer.jpg

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|header = American football at Harvard Stadium

|image1 = Harvard Stadium - 1905.jpg

|caption1 = Harvard-Yale game in 1905

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|caption2 = To mark the 100th anniversary of Harvard's marching band, hundreds of alumni joined the band on the field during the Cornell game, October 12, 2019

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Although most of Harvard's campus is in Cambridge, the stadium and most other intercollegiate athletic facilities, along with Harvard Business School, lie to the south, across the Charles River, in the nearby Allston neighborhood of Boston. Several donations of land from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, his family, and friends beginning in 1870 on the Brighton/Allston side of the Charles River through to an 1890's gift from Henry Lee Higginson, which gave the tract the name "Soldier's Field", determined the location of the athletics complex.{{cite web |last1=Hannon |first1=Helen |title=Soldiers Field |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/06/soldiers-field/ |website=The Harvard Gazette |access-date=26 January 2025}}

The stadium is the most iconic piece of the Soldiers Field athletic complex, which also includes the baseball stadium, outdoor track, an artificial turf field hockey/lacrosse field, two soccer stadiums including Jordan Field, pools, Beren Tennis Center (outdoor), the Gordon Indoor Track, Dillon Fieldhouse, Lavietes Pavilion, and Bright Hockey Center. Newell Boathouse, home of Harvard's men's crew, lies across Soldiers Field Road on the banks of the Charles. The stadium's horseshoe opens to the northeast, towards the river, and the press box is at the top of the northwest sideline's grandstand.

The running track has been removed; it was non-standard, with long straights and tight turns, and the outside lanes were very near the stadium walls.

File:Harvard Stadium Dedication Plaque - 1903.jpg|Dedication Plaque by the Class of 1879–1903

File:Harvard Stadium - 1903 Greek Play.jpg|Performance of Greek Play – 1905

File:Airplane view of Harvard Stadium, Cambridge, Mass.jpg|Aerial view, c. 1930–45

File:President John F. Kennedy Attends a Harvard-Columbia Football Game.jpg|John F. Kennedy attending a game in 1963

File:Harvard Scoreboard - 2006 (1).jpg|Scoreboard – 1984–2007

File:Harvard Stadium - 2000 Ivy exterior.jpg|Exterior ivy, removed in 2006

File:Harvard Stadium - 2006 1.jpg|Aerial view of the 2006 Harvard-Yale game – the Murr Center (built in 1998) now sits across the open end of the stadium

Image:Harvard Stadium, Dudesleeper.jpg|The stadium's southwest-facing exterior, 2006

File:Harvard stadium 2009h.JPG|View of the field in 2009

File:Harvard Scoreboard - 2008.jpg|Scoreboard, 2011

File:Harvard University cheerleaders.jpg|Cheerleaders in Harvard Stadium, 2019

• Harvard Crimson
• List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts

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• {{official website}}

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{{succession box

| title = Home of the Boston Patriots

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Soccer venue

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{{succession box

| title = Home of the Boston Cannons 

| years = 2007–2018

| before = Nickerson Field

| after = Veterans Memorial Stadium
(Quincy)

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