Francis Field (St. Louis County, Missouri)

Francis Field is a stadium in St. Louis. It is located on the campus of Washington University and serves the sports teams of the university ( athletics, American football and soccer). It was built for the organization of the Olympic Summer Games in 1904, which took place in parallel to the World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Adjacent to the stadium is the Francis High School, a gymnasium.

History

1899 commissioned the University of Washington University, which specializes in building architectural firm Cope & Stewardson with the design of a stadium on its premises. 1902, the construction was completed. The stadium was named after David Francis, former governor of Missouri, and Minister of the Interior of the United States, who was largely responsible for the World Expo and the Olympic Games were held in St. Louis.

The grandstand of the stadium was one of the first applications of the then new technology of reinforced concrete. Initially, the plant had a peculiar shape for today's standards. The cinder track was a third of a mile ( 536.44 m) long; they had four curves, three short and one long straight line of 200 m length. In the 1950s pursued in each case up to 19,000 spectators the games of the football team of the University. In 1984 he was a complete transformation: Francis Field received a modern 400 - meter running track made ​​of plastic and the seating capacity was limited to 4000. Since 2004, the playing field is made of synthetic turf.

Stadium and adjoining gym are classified as a National Historic Landmark.