A Look At Nippert Stadium In The 1930’s
Followers of University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono may have noticed a particularly interesting retweet on Monday night:
The link leads to an archival photo of Nippert Stadium being renovated… in May of 1936. I was fascinated with this bit of Bearcat history, so I decided to do a bit more digging on OhioMemory.org. I found a few more awesome Nippert photos. Original descriptions are included.
CREDIT: ohiomemory.org
"“Cinci., O., 1937. Stadium, Univ. of Cinci.” This photograph show the south end of Nippert Stadium, with Schmidlapp Hall behind. Nippert Stadium was completed in 1924 as a memorial to James Gamble Nippert, a law student at the University of Cincinnati who died in 1923 as a result blood poisoning from a spike wound received during a football contest. His grandfather, James H. Gamble, a soap manufacturer donated $250,000, as a memorial, to help complete the 12,000 seat stadium. Home of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats football team, has undergone multiple expansions and renovations through the years. The first was a W.P.A. sponsored seating capacity expansion in 1936, which lowered Carson Field 12 feet and doubled the stadium’s original capacity, now seating 24,000. Renovations again took place in 1954, adding the Reed Shank Pavillon and raising capacity to 28,000. More renovations were completed from 1989 to 1992 which expanded the stadium’s capacity to 35,000. Schmidlapp Hall was completed in 1910 at a cost of $97,000 by architects Tietig Lee and Garber & Woodward. It was the university’s gymnasium, home of UC’s Bearcats basketball team, and athletic facility as well as housing the University of Cincinnati ROTC unit for a time. In 1995 it was renamed the Dieterle Vocal Arts Center (DVAC) and is the center of nearly all choral and vocal activity for the university’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) with many studios and rehearsal rooms."
You get a true sense of how old Nippert and the surrounding buildings are. The south end zone remains nearly identical to present day, while CCM mainstays like the Dieterle Vocal Arts Center and Memorial Hall loom in the background. [Source Link]
CREDIT: ohiomemory.org
"“Project #16-31-666. University of Cincinnati Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio. The project calls for the excavation of the football field to a depth of eleven feet calling for the removal of 55,000 cubic yards of dirt, and increasing the seating capacity from 12,440 to 25,000, building of additional seats, construction of a new modern press box, 100 feet long and eight feet wide. Special box seats accommodating 736 will also be erected. This project started December 2, 1935, employs an average 450 men, and will cost a total of $151,750, of which amount W.P.A. furnished $112,650.”"
Taken May 4th, 1936, this is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch. This is when The Nip received the bulk of its current capacity, expanding from just over 12,000 to 24,000 seats. Even back then, the Bearcats had capacity problems and chose to deal with them in unorthodox ways, such as digging deeper into the earth, as opposed to building outward. Notice the brand spanking new press box. We’ll call that Version 1.0. It was 100 feet long, eight feet wide, and constructed as part of a $151,000 renovation project. Version 2.0 was built in 1992, and lasted until it was demolished following the 2013 season. Version 3.0 is slated to debut for next season’s opener. It will be 130 yards long, four stories tall, and shine as the crown jewel of an $86 million renovation project.
Also, if you look to the top left of this photo, you’ll see Tangeman University Center, which would complete construction and open the following year. [Source Link]
CREDIT: ohiomemory.org
The listed date on this one is 1932, which has to be incorrect as it features TUC and completed Nippert renovations, both of which took place after 1932. Not sure when this was actually taken.
Here we get the best sense of what campus looked like at the time. We see Nippert in the foreground, complete with a brand new press box. Behind that is a newly-finished TUC, prior to renovations that took place in 2004. Off in the distance you can see Swift Hall (1926) behind TUC, and Baldwin Hall (1911) to the right of that. Press box aside, every building in this photo exists on campus today. [Source Link]
CREDIT: ohiomemory.org
The final photo gives a good view of the east side of the stadium, prior to construction of the Reed Shank Pavilion and Richard E. Lindner Center. You’ll also see a sliver of grassy area north of the stadium, where the massive 200,000 square foot Campus Recreation Center currently stands. Unlike the previous photo which shows an eerily familiar UC, this side looks completely different. [Source Link]
If you’re like me, these images only make you miss Nippert even more. Paul Brown Stadium is a great facility that will serve UC well this season, but nothing beats the cozy confines of the Bearcats’ home on campus.
If you’re looking for any historic images or newspaper archives from Ohio’s history, OhioMemory.org is the place to go. They have an immense archive. All credit for these photos goes to them. Another big thanks goes out to Mark Fields for bringing this website to my attention.