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The sudden growing pains that followed the admission of Ohio State to the “Big Nine” made it clear that it was only a question of time until Ohio Field, Ohio State’s Athletic stadium, would be outgrown. The space there was limited and the High St. frontage was too valuable for permanent athletic use. The Athletic Board took notice of this situation May 28, 1913. At this board meeting they authorized the appointment of a committee “to confer with President Thompson for discussion of the plan of moving the athletic field to a new place.” The minutes also show that a committee reported that “it does not favor any extensive improvement upon the present equipment” although it was for keeping “the present equipment in repair.” This was the birth of the idea of the Ohio Stadium, but nearly a decade was to elapse before it was to become a reality.

A preliminary discussion of the idea of a new stadium was under way soon after the close of the 1916 championship season. At a February 3, 1917 board meeting the sole topic of discussion was “the plans for the new stadium.”

In the summer of 1918 the idea of a new athletic plant and stadium was still germinating. August 13, 1918, Prof. Thomas French reported on “the new plans of Architect Smith for the new Athletic Field and Stadium.” It was Architect Howard Dwight Smith, 1907, who finally drew the plans for the horseshoe-shaped, double deck stadium. His unique design him the gold medal of the American Institute of Architects for “excellence in public work.”

Money was a large problem and various ideas to raise funds were suggested. In the end it developed that a stadium could be financed in only two ways: by public subscription and by profits from intercollegiate athletics, chiefly football. The plan for a stadium campaign which, in effect, would take the public into partnership, began to take shape toward the end of 1919. Public interest in Ohio State football reached unprecedented heights in Columbus and throughout Ohio after a third highly successful football season. It was now quite clear that there was a need for a much greater seating capacity and improved playing facilities than Ohio Field could afford.

The resulting Stadium campaign, finally put into action in the fall of 1920, was the solution. The Stadium campaign capitalized on the enthusiasm generated by the great football successes achieved in 1916, 1917, 1919 and 1920.

It was decided that it was not enough, however, merely to ask the public to contribute to a Stadium fund. Something had to be given something in return for their money. Various schemes were devised to this end. As it worked out, $100 came to be the standard subscription from the alumni and public and $25 from students. In return, Stadium subscribers were guaranteed certain preferences as to football tickets in future years and there was talk of perpetuating their names on bronze tablets to be erected on the Stadium walls whenever finances permitted. But, because of expenses related to the expanded athletic program, followed by the bleak depression that began with the stock market collapse of 1929, this never occurred. But, tablets identifying donors of $5000 or more were erected on individual Stadium boxes.

The first plans for a Stadium campaign were announced in the winter of 1919-20. The original goal was $600,000. At the outset plans called for a stadium to seat at least 50,000 with the first games to be played in it in the fall of 1921. Lowry F. Sater, 1895, Columbus attorney, was general chairman.

A Stadium Number of the Alumni Monthly in February, 1921 gave more details about the planned construction of the Stadium and surrounding athletic fields. The Stadium was to be horseshoe-shaped , with twenty baseball diamonds around its perimeter and along the adjoining east bank of the Olentangy. On the South of the Stadium, six soccer and football fields, a running track, jumping pits and tennis courts were to be constructed. In addition, the Olentangy was to be straightened and diked to prevent flooding, and a new bridge was to be constructed across the river to replace the old trestle north of the Stadium site. A new east-west roadway, a new power plant, a new gymnasium, and even a new armory were also projected in the new Stadium area.

The opening of the Stadium campaign was set for the week of October 18 to 23, 1920. I was centered in Columbus, but included the entire state and major alumni centers elsewhere. The John Price Jones Corp., of New York City, was brought in to provide professional fund raising know-how. The Stadium Committee decided meanwhile that “a temporary delay would be wiser than too-suddenly sprung campaigning.” The campaign and the Stadium Week observance were tied in with and followed the formal celebration that fall of the University’s semi-centennial.

Samuel N. Summer, 1905, Columbus industrialist, was chairman of the campaign executive committee and did yeoman service. He had the help of six special committees headed by campus and civic leaders such as Prof. French, J.L. Morrill, 1913, alumni secretary, Simon Lazarus, leading Columbus merchant, and others. Carl E. Steeb, University business manager, was treasurer.

Stadium Week, as the campaign was called, was marked by all the carefully planned hoopla and natural enthusiasm that the campus and the town could muster. There were pageants, demonstrations, parades and stunts. On Monday, the first day, there was a tremendous athletic pageant downtown with nearly 4000 students in athletic costume participating. It culminated, as the Monthly reported, in a “mammoth demonstration of physical education” on the north lawn of the Statehouse. It was estimated that a throng of nearly 100,000 saw the parade. On another day the campus infantry and artillery regiments paraded downtown with full equipment. On Friday afternoon still another parade downtown was made up of fifty-one floats representing fraternities, sororities and independent campus organizations.

Each noon and daily at 5 p.m. there were music, stunts and short “pep” talks from a stage on the west front of the Capitol grounds. The downtown newspapers carried reams of publicity. Billboards were used and a huge horseshoe with electric lights denoting the progress of the campaign was suspended in front of the Deshler Hotel. At nearby Gay St. a large transparency was stretched across High St., bearing the plea, “Boost Ohio Stadium. It’s for Columbus.” The response to the campaign enthusiasm was boosted by the fact that the 1920 football team had won another Western Conference title, its third in four seasons, not counting the “unofficial” 1918 season.

Steps went forward, meanwhile, for the selection and engineering survey of a site for the Stadium. A deal was worked out whereby the Animal Husbandry Department agreed to surrender pasture land west of Neil Ave., bordering on the Olentangy in return for a promise of new buildings and other facilities west of the river. Like the Stadium itself, this took time, but these pastures are where the stadium stands today.

An important move taken at the November 10, 1920 board meeting was the appointment of a 7-man Stadium construction committee. It consisted of President Thompson as chairman, Prof. French as vice chairman, Summer, Steeb, Prof. D.J. Kays, J.N. Bradford, University architect, and Athletic Director St. John.

On Ohio State Day, celebrated across the nation November 26, 1920, it was reported that subscriptions had reached $923,775. This was broken down as follows: alumni and citizens, $544,500; Ohio outside of Columbus, $144,948; from other states, $77,727; and campus – students and faculty - $156,600. The measure of enthusiasm can be gauged from the fact that earlier there was talk that $300,000 was the most that could be expected from Columbus, apart from the campus, while the actual response was nearly double that figure. By January 20, 1921 the total figure stood at $1,001,071.

Ground was broken for the Stadium in formal ceremonies August 3, 1921. Governor Harry L. Davis wielded the first shovel, followed by President Thompson, Chairman Summer and a multiple officials and campus and stadium committee dignitaries. A crowd of 2,500 was present along with the regimental band. Sparked by the national and University colors, The audience dutifully sang “America” and “Carmen Ohio.”

Completion date for the Stadium was set for October 1, 1922. In concurrence with the erection of the Stadium, the University let a contract for the new bridge and roadway over the Olentangy just north of the Stadium at a cost of $117,900.

The University trustees, meanwhile, at their April 25, 1921 meeting adopted an important resolution under which the Stadium was to be built and fixing the responsibility of the Athletic Board. By now the project was known officially as the Ohio Stadium. More than $1,000,000 having been raised, it was now up to the building committee to see the project to completion. It was stipulated, among other things, that the University itself was to incur no financial obligation in connection with the Stadium and that the cost of the structure was not to exceed $930,000. But that was not to be, before it was completed, Ohio Stadium was to cost twice that much.

The University trustees formally approved the plans and specifications of the Stadium at May 25, 1921. The building committee directed the engineers to submit plans to contractors for bids to be opened June 17. The contract for the construction of the stadium was let to the E.H. Latham Co., of Columbus, with their bid of $1,341,017. The contract was approved July 7. The campaign itself was over, but the books were still open as there was a gap of $300,000 between the contract price and the amount pledged. All expenses of the campaign were paid by the Athletic Department so that every campaign dollar pledged could go into the Stadium.

The design finally adopted called for a double-decked, horseshoe-shaped structure on a north-south axis lying in the bottom lands bordering the Olentangy River. Clyde T. Morris, 1898, of the civil engineering department, was the engineer in charge, assisted by William S. Hindman, also of that department.

The Stadium was to have a seating capacity of 63,000 and was to be built mainly of concrete. There was some difference of opinion over both the size and the materials to be used. Dr. T.C. Mendenhall, sole surviving member of the original faculty in 1873 and an influential trustee in 1921, was insistent that the seating capacity be held to 35,000. The argument was that a large stadium was not needed and would never be filled. There was also some argument on political grounds that brick be used instead of concrete.

The chosen site was on low ground, and was often subject to flooding by the Olentangy. To offset this it was necessary to make an earth fill to an average depth of 7 feet. In time, the river was also straightened and a substantial dike was built along the east bank, but this did not come about until the PWA period in the depression.

Steady progress was made on the Stadium construction. Prof. French presented the report of the Stadium engineer January 19, 1922. A motion was adopted that “the necessary steps be taken along the lines of the special committee of the Stadium Building Committee to insure completion of the Stadium by October 1, 1922.”

To make the Stadium ready for actual use involved manyof details, e.g., the purchase of 3000 chairs for the boxes, a flagpole at a cost of $381, the numbering of the seats, and 1200 identification badges for employees. A major item was the installation of cables for telegraph and telephone service. There was also need for a score board and for liability insurance. At its May 7, 1923 meeting the board approved the building of an outdoor cinder track at the Stadium and the erection of a fence across the open end of the horseshoe.

The Stadium engineer was authorized also to make plans for a new Varsity baseball field in the area northeast of the Stadium. Another recurring problem was the necessity of oiling the ground underneath the Stadium itself to settle the dust. Years later this was solved permanently by blacktopping it. On December 5, 1923 the board authorized the construction of a 6-lap track and straightaway under the west side of the Stadium together with tennis courts and the grading of the Varsity baseball field at a cost of $5650. It was not until May, 1926 that purchase of a canvas cover for the football playing field was approved

The estimated schedule of expenses to complete the Stadium by October 1, 1922 totaled $1,488,168, of which, $1,341,017 applied on the Latham contract. The remainder covered office expense, engineer payroll, and “grounds and extras” – the last in the amount of $81,920.

Stadium Fund subscriptions were shown at a face value of $1,078,114 of which $975,428 was paid. Athletic profits for 1921-22 came to $134,000, leaving loans to be negotiated in the amount of $378,740 from Columbus banks. Such borrowing was on unsecured personal notes signed by Athletic Board members and was divided unevenly between two major Columbus banks.

At the June 15, 1922 board meeting, Engineer Morris presented his final estimate of the cost of the completed Stadium. The total expense was now given as $1,491,761 and the amount to be borrowed as $386,000. Authority was given the treasurer to borrow “from time to time as the funds may be needed a sum not to exceed $386,000, on the best possible terms.”

The stadium was completed in time for the 1922 football season and opened with much celebration. The Ohio Stadium was born.

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OHIO FIELD

It is the fate of many things to be remembered not particularly for themselves, but for what they presaged for something else. Not so with Ohio Field. Certainly, by reason of shortcomings, it made Ohio Stadium a reality. It had a relatively short but formidable history of its own in an era in which the horse and buggy was giving way to the automobile, America was coming into its century, and football, given birth by eastern colleges, was becoming a truly national sport.

For Ohio Field, it began in 1898 when the University relocated an athletic field from Neil Avenue to along High Street in the vicinity of 17th and Woodruff Avenues. Ten years later, that field finally got an official name. Bearing a flask of spring water, Mrs. William Oxley Thompson, wife of the University president, said, "In the name of clean athletics and manly sports, I christen this field 'Ohio Field.' "

Meantime, Ohio Field was already Ohio's field. In 1903 the Board of Trustees authorized the use of the area and expanded it in 1905. By 1906, some residents of the area wanted it removed. Obviously, they underestimated the grip that football had on a community and the bond that was growing between a University and the sport.

In 1907, the field was extended. Before it was officially named and dedicated, it had a grandstand and bleachers, a new iron fence, and brick ticket offices. In 1910, another grandstand was added, and before long, crowds of 14,000, matching the capacity, were coming to watch a marvelous football player named Charles "Chic" Harley, a graduate of East High School in Columbus who would become Ohio State's first nationally acclaimed and universally recognized three-time All-American. Much as Yankee Stadium would become The House that Ruth Built, Ohio Stadium would be The House that Harley Built. But he was far from alone.

William Oxley Thompson

While student growth was steady, a new leader was questioning the University’s impact on people’s lives. Could the University improve Ohio’s educational system? Could it extend into people’s homes, introducing more to the value of higher education?

That leader was a Presbyterian minister who spent 26 years as President of Ohio State . . . William Oxley Thompson.

Thompson stood out as University president both as a man of vision and a man of accomplishment. He felt that the University should be and should offer a broad range of educational experiences. Those educational experiences would include research, they would include service, they would also of course include traditional classroom activity, but unlike his predecessors, he was also a great believer that the University should also educate by means of student life. That was very different. While education in Ohio was becoming more prevalent, many communities still lacked high schools. Thompson worked to increase the number of schools in Ohio and improve the preparation of future collegians. The College of Education was formed to provide teachers for those new schools.

As enrollment increased at Ohio State, updated facilities, such as a new library, were built. Thompson's focus was on the long-term, not the immediate-need.

William Oxley Thompson retired in 1925. In 26 years as President of Ohio State, Thompson watched his vision for the University become reality. Enrollment grew from one thousand to 14-thousand students as Ohio State was acknowledged as one of the nation’s premier universities.

Ohio State placed a statue of Thompson's image in front of the library. Additionally, the library was named in his honor.
He died in 1933, eleven years after the completion of Ohio Stadium.

Thomas Ewing French

Thomas Ewing French – engineer, author, traveler, artist, gourmet, and hobbyist, to name a few of his areas of achievement, was a member of the outstanding class of 1895 and continued his active connection with the University until almost the day of his death, November 2, 1944. Including his student days, this was a span of fifty-three years. French was the son of a minister. He was born November 7, 1871 at Mansfield, but the family moved to Dayton where he showed an early talent for teaching and drafting.

French earned his way through Ohio State by working as a draftsman. . .in the department of architecture and drawing. Upon graduation in 1895 he was immediately given a full-time position as an instructor in drawing.

Eleven years later, Thomas French becomes a department chair . . .and some five years later, writes a textbook for McGraw-Hill that, as textbooks go, becomes a best seller and the standard work in engineering drawing.

French devoted himself to athletics. He loved the character sports instilled in students and organized an early athletic program at Ohio State. He recruited volunteer coaches for different sports and helped schedule games with nearby colleges.

Above all, French loved football. His brother, Edward, had been captain of the 1896 football team. French never missed a game and worked hard to promote the sport.

He was credited with having fathered the idea of the Ohio Stadium, completed in 1922. He was Ohio State’s first and only faculty representative in the Big Ten, from 1912 until his death in 1944. Thomas French, in 1912, became the second President of Ohio State’s Athletic Board and hired Ohio State’s first athletic director, John Richards. In the 22 years from Ohio Stadium’s inception until his death in 1944, French saw football attendance grow to 40-thousand at most games . . still well short of the dream and stadium capacity. French Fieldhouse is named in his honor.

Howard Dwight Smith

Howard Dwight Smith was a dynamic and prolific professional who, architecturally and in other ways, left his landmarks all over Ohio, but especially on the campus. He was known best perhaps as the designer of the Ohio Stadium. But in later years friends told him that his most lasting monument was the towering pile of the greatly enlarged University Library, known officially as the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, which dominates the main University landscape.

Smith was born February 21, 1886 in Dayton. In 1907 he was graduated from Ohio State with the degree of civil engineer in Architecture. In his senior year he was a student assistant. He next entered Columbia University where in 1910 he was graduated with the degree of bachelor of architecture. From 1910 to 1918 he was associated with the office of the well known architect, John Russell Pope. At Columbia he received a Perkins traveling fellowship in architecture.

In February, 1918 he “came home,” so to speak as professor of architecture. This stay on the campus was relatively brief since in May, 1921 he became architect for the Columbus Board of Education. Meanwhile, however, he designed and was architect for the Ohio Stadium. This giant structure was unique in that it was horseshoe-shaped with an overhanging “C” deck. It also won for Smith a gold medal from the American Institute of Architects.

Smith was in continual demand as a consultant for various agencies or on specific projects. Among those he listed were Wittenberg College, the Upper Arlington Board of Education, the Columbus and Springfield Y.M.C.A.’s, the Deshler Hotel (Columbus), the million-dollar First Congregational Church, Columbus, where he represented the John Russell Pope office, the Springfield Masonic Temple, the Marietta and Columbus City Halls and Columbus West High School.

In September, 1929, he was named University architect and head of the department of architecture. He continued to be University architect until his retirement in 1956. In the early post-war years he was responsible for the design of some of the major new buildings that began to dot the campus. Among these were Hughes Hall (music), the new Physics Building – later the Alpheus W. Smith Laboratory, the Agricultural Laboratories, the multi-million dollar addition to the main library, the optometry building, and especially the St. John Arena and French Field House. The task of designing and overseeing the construction of so many new buildings in those years became such that some outside architects were engaged for the purpose as, for example, with the new Ohio Union, the Mershon Auditorium, and most of those in the new Medical Center complex. In all, it was said that he planned thirty campus buildings.

In 1955 Smith suffered a stroke and in April, 1958 another. He died April 27, 1958 full of years and honors at the age of 72. Smith Hall is named in his honor.

Samuel N. Summer

A native of Shelby, Ohio, Samuel N. Summer graduated from Ohio State University in 1905 and had worked for many years for the university’s growth. He was a member of the board of the Ohio State University Development Fund, and chairman of its admissions and allocations committee. He was chairman of the board from 1945 to 1947. In 1920 he was made general chairman of the campaign committee that successfully raised $1,000,000 for the construction of Ohio Stadium. In 1922 he was elected by the alumni association as its representative to the Athletic Board, a post he held 15 years. He served as director of the Huntington National Bank more than 20 years, and was President of Summer & Co.

Lynn W. St. John

Lynn W. St. John, whose career as director of athletics at Ohio State University started in 1912 and marked the emergence of the university as an athletic power in the collegiate world, began his football career as a half-back on the OSU varsity of 1900 which defeated all comers except Ohio Medical University.

“Saint,” as he became known to thousands of alumni, fans and students, was born in Union City, Pennsylvania, on November 18, 1876, and attended Monroe High School in Monroe, Ohio.

In 1900, the man who was to guide Ohio State into the Western Conference and build its mammoth athletic plant, entered that institution as a freshman, but a year later he was called home by a death in his family.

For another year, St. John coached all the athletic teams for the Fostoria high school and from there went to the College of Wooster where he attended classes ad coached at the same time, receiving his bachelor of philosophy degree in 1906. The next fall he became assistant in the biology department and continued to teach athletics and direct physical education. From there he went to Ohio Wesleyan as its director of athletics meanwhile studying medicine at Starling Ohio Medical College from 1909 to 1911.

St. John returned to Ohio State from Ohio Wesleyan in 1912 as basketball and baseball coach. In addition, he assisted in coaching the football team which that year was under the direct supervision of John R. Richards, who was Director of Athletics.

St. John took over as “manager of competitive and recreative athletics” at Ohio State in 1912 and began the task of building Ohio State into an athletic titan that would attract over a million fans to its home games three decades later in a huge stadium to which teams would come as far as 2,000 miles to play.

St. John’s assumption of the leadership at OSU, which took place at the same time that the athletic board voted Ohio State into Western Conference play, resulted eight years later in the subscription campaign for $1,000,000 for a football stadium. The horseshoe stadium was dedicated two years later in 1922.

In the thirty-five years later between 1912 and his retirement in 1947, Lynn W. St. John played a major role in the development of the Ohio State University as an American institution of higher learning of the first order. Lynn W. St. John died on September 30, 1950, as he prepared to attend a football game at Ohio Stadium. His death at the age of 73 removed one of the last of those builders of the greater University who began their service during the administration of President William Oxley Thompson. St. John Arena is named in his honor.

Thomas Corwin Mendenhall

First member of the original University faculty to be chosen in 1873 was Thomas Corwin Mendenhall. His name was the first one on the original list of five submitted to the Trustees, and the first to be approved that day, New Year’s Day, 1873. Mendenhall came to the campus from Columbus Central High School. He stayed five years, then went to the Imperial University of Japan, returning to the campus three years later. His original appointment was as professor of physics and mechanics, but the second was as professor of physics only.

The second time he remained on the campus until the end of 1884 when he became professor of electrical science in the U.S. Signal Corps., Washington, D.C. The Trustees voted him an honorary Ph.D. in 1878. He was a close friend of Joseph Sullivant, probably the most influential member of the first Boards of Trustees. In 1920 Mendenhall gave $2,500 to underwrite the Joseph Sullivant Medal to be awarded every five years. It was to go to an alumnus, former student or faculty member “for a really notable piece of work” in any of several designated fields.

When the University observed its fiftieth anniversary in October, 1920, Mendenhall described the original faculty in great detail, - all but himself. This was sixteen months after Governor James M. Cox appointed him to the Board of Trustees. He was one of several former faculty members to serve as a Trustee.

Mendenhall was a strong-willed man. He is remembered for his position in 1921-22 against the University operating two colleges of medicine and sought the elimination of the College of Homeopathic Medicine, which was done. It is recalled, too, how he made an issue of the construction of the Ohio Stadium, also in 1921. He wanted the seating capacity of the big horseshoe limited to 45,000, contending that there would never be crowds of 63,000, which was the original seating capacity. He also wanted it built of brick and stone rather than concrete. He lost on both counts by votes of 5 to 1.

Mendenhall served four years and nine months as a trustee, until his death March 22, 1924 at his home in Ravenna, Ohio. Dr. William Oxley Thompson, president of the University, officiated at the funeral despite some feeling earlier that Dr. Thompson was a bit afraid of him. Mendenhall was in his eighty-third year when he died. It was perhaps fitting that not only was he the first member of the initial faculty chosen but also the last of the original eight to die. Mendenhall Laboratory is named in his honor

Prof. F.W. Ives

Because of his long, intimate and influential connection with the project as it developed, was generally credited with being the father of the stadium idea. But there is evidence that Prof. F.W. Ives, a Wisconsin alumnus, was the first to give tangible support to it. Ives, a member of the engineering drawing department of which French was chairman, offered $100 toward the building of a stadium.

During the campaign, a special play was made for large givers with subscriptions of $1000 to $5000. Earlier, at its December 2, 1919 meeting, the Athletic Board voted that $100 be “the minimum subscription for Patron.” It was voted also that patrons “be allowed the privilege of ten years’ option on two seats and names to be inscribed in corriders (sic)” and that patrons “contributing over $1000 be given an option on four seats.” Experience proved that the donors came to expect such preferential treatment, originally intended for a term of years, to be permanent. This complicated the ticket distribution in later years.

The July, 1921 Monthly gave it as $1,042,689, divided as follows: Columbus, $565,980; campus, $156,969; Ohio, $196,127; and outside of Ohio, $120,887.

Various ideas were proposed in connection with the Stadium. There was even talk of its use with a sort of open air theater, – this came about years later, but underneath the structure – and for public meeting purposes such as commencement. The original plan made no provision for a running track and this was one of the first things added. A petition was also presented to the Athletic Board to provide roque courts. This was referred to the Stadium engineer “with a recommendation that the courts be constructed in a suitable place

Meanwhile, early in 1922, a subcommittee named to consider the matter of financing the completed Stadium foresaw that with funds in hand and with anticipated collections on Stadium subscriptions between January and May construction expenses could not be met until the June 1 payment. On the basis of a 4-year statement of receipts and expenditures, with a similar estimate for the future, it was felt that “the loans could all be paid off by April 1, 1927.” This proved highly optimistic. In any case, the subcommittee recommended to the Stadium Building Committee that it “recommend to the Athletic Board that the necessary steps be taken to secure loans of funds as may become necessary for the completion of the Stadium this year and that the Stadium Building Committee be authorized to proceed with the construction accordingly.” The building committee approved the subcommittee report January 18 for transmittal to the Athletic Board.