Memorial Field

Memorial Field. State College Historic Site. Heeding calls for a "public playground," the State College School Board bought this natural amphitheater, known as "the sink hole," in 1914. It was foreseen as one of Pennsylvania's "most modern playgrounds," one of its "most outstanding high school athletic fields.", Residents were to cease using it as a town dump. But conversion to a school-activity "hollow" was slow, due to lack of funding. In 1916, the surface was leveled for baseball; in 1926, a running track was laid, paid for by the Rotary Club. H.O. Smith erected bleachers salvaged from New Beaver Field in 1933., The Great Depression brought Works Progress Administration (WPA) money. Landscape Architecture Professor John R. Bracken supervised planning. Local laborers (pictured above, about 1935) removed thousands of tons of rock, retaining less than 20 percent for walls and steps. Calvin Graham (foot on wheelbarrow) was the general foreman. One workman, Joe Harper (second man right of Calvin) would stay nearby, becoming custodian of the Frazier Street School up the hill., In 1937, steel-plated grandstands went up, Bill Marshall installed floodlights, and the first official football game was played. "The High School Hollow" was dedicated as Memorial Field in 1946 to honor State High alumni who died in World War I and II. It was rededicated in 1993 to honor all SCAHS alumni killed in wartime.