Stagg Field
Encyclopedia
Amos Alonzo Stagg Field is the name of two different football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 fields for the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. The earliest Stagg Field is probably best remembered for its role in a landmark scientific achievement by Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...

 during the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...

. The site of the first nuclear reaction received designation as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

 on February 18, 1965. On October 15, 1966, which is the day that the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
The National Historic Preservation Act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States of America...

 was enacted creating the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, it was added to that as well. The site was named a Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...

 on October 27, 1971.

First nuclear chain reaction

On December 2, 1942 about forty people watched Enrico Fermi and his team set off the first nuclear chain reaction
Nuclear chain reaction
A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions, thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions. The specific nuclear reaction may be the fission of heavy isotopes or the fusion of light isotopes...

 at Chicago Pile-1 in a racquets
Racquets (sport)
Rackets or Racquets is an indoor racket sport played in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada...

 court under the west stands of the abandoned stadium. The old Stagg Field plot of land is currently home to the Regenstein Library
Regenstein Library
The Joseph Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 7.9 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.-History:The...

. A Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

 sculpture, Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Energy (Henry Moore sculpture)
Nuclear Energy is a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore that is located on the campus of the University of Chicago at the site of world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1. It is on Ellis Avenue, between the Max Palevsky West dormitory and the Regenstein Library. This site is located in the Hyde...

, in a small quadrangle commemorates the nuclear experiment.

First Stagg Field

The first Stagg Field was a stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 in Chicago, Illinois. It was primarily used for college football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 games, and was the home field of the Maroons
Chicago Maroons football
The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...

. Stagg Field originally opened in 1893 as Marshall Field, named after Marshall Field
Marshall Field
Marshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...

 who donated land to the university to build the stadium. In 1913, the field was renamed Stagg Field after their famous coach Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...

. 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 Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 in 1946. The stadium was demolished in 1957.

New Stagg Field

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 current Division III football team uses the new field as their home. Stagg Field has a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 of 1,650, and the field itself is made of FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...

.

External links

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