THE PLANS FOR MEMORIAL FIELD

On page 483 of Lord's "History of Dartmouth College" are these words, "For this purpose (an athletic field) the Trustees put at the disposal of the Committee ten acres of the land between Crosby and Park Streets purchased from the Agricultural College, and these, by an expenditure of $17,000, were graded, drained and enclosed, and provided with a cinder running track, with baseball and football fields, and with a grand stand, and were henceforth called the 'Alumni Oval'". This was in 1893. Little is left of "Alumni Oval" in 1920 but the name, and the fragrant memory of those who. made that then great betterment possible. The drainage system has worn out. The track serves best as a reservoir, after every shower; the grand stand has vanished in the flames; and the fence has succumbed to the ravages of time and Freshman bonfiremakers. Even the soil seems to have lost character, until today the once beautiful "Oval" has sunk to a condition not much better than a mud flat. Moreover, the "ten acres" of 1893, barely adequate for a college of three or four hundred, is no better adapted to the needs of the seventeen-hundred-strong Dartmouth of today than a dog-kennel would be as a dwelling place for Jumbo. At the rate of 170 to the acre, about the only "recreation" possible would be the goose-step, and that in close marching order. The great gymnasium turns its back scornfully on the ruin; and while these general conditions may be known to the alumni, only those who have been obliged year by year to apply the patches and the string can bear real testimony to the pathetic inadequacy, inefficiency and unsightliness of things as they are.

But the desirability of improvement and enlargement has now become an absolute essential, if the College is really to stand back of and enforce the system of "compulsory recreation" which was inaugurated last fall, and which in 1920 will become applicable to all Sophomores and Freshmen. "Student football" must remain a pleasant fiction so long as the total available playing space is preempted by the candidates for Freshmen and Varsity teams. Tennis loses its appeal when every set must be prefaced by a two-hour wait.

Nor can we feel proud of the arena on which we entertain our friendly rivals from other institutions and from which they must (and do) gather some very unfavorable, (though as we know really unfounded) impressions regarding Dartmouth's plant. There will be an ever increasing number of these contests with rivals of our own rank, and we ought to be able to stage them more suitably.

But the case does not require argument—the statement of it is proof enough. Nor is this article concerned primarily with the plans for raising the necessary funds, estimated at $360,000.

The "Memorial" project as outlined in the last issue of the MAGAZINE, in the hands of the able Committee* already appointed by the authority of the Alumni Council, will carry an irresistible appeal, and there should not be the slightest doubt of ultimate success. The purpose here is to make a simple and matter-of-fact explanation of conditions as they exist at present and the way in which it is proposed to deal with them, in order that the Alumni may understand the tentative plan, printed on another page, appreciate its possibilities and perhaps be moved to make suggestions for still further improvement.

The most obvious thing about the plan is that it proposes to incorporate in the Field the area lying between the gymnasium and the Field on the west and Park Street on the east, in which the abandoned tangle of Captain Keene's trenches now remind us of days happily past. This enlargement will more than double the present playing space.

The next consideration is by no means so obvious, but is one of great importance. At present nearly all the surface water from the hillside of Dartmouth and Culver Halls and from the ground near Hallgarten and the heating plant eventually finds its way on to the athletic field. This water added to that which naturaly falls upon the field, and which drains off very reluctantly, owing to the clay soil, has been and is one of our chief difficulties. Every alumnus is familiar with spring baseball practice on the campus and many readers will recollect D. B. Rich's board track alongside of old Bissell Hall. The only way to cope with this trouble is to enter upon a comprehensive scheme of grading and draining, which is just what the new plan contemplates—though the sketch does not show it,—and it is in the doing of this prosaic and unspectacular job that a very considerable part of the estimated cost of the whole project is involved. Grading must be done in the adjoining streets and around the field, so that it may become a plateau and not a sink, and the field itself must be honeycombed by a great many gravel pockets connected underground by a system of drains, in order to offset the impervious nature of the present soil. That this is going to be a costly undertaking will be plain, at least to those who have done any similar work around their homes, but it is a prerequisite, and the engineers give assurance that it can be successfully carried out.

The plan contemplates moving the present running track a few feet eastward to make room for a permanent stand and provides for 100 and 220 yard straight-aways as well as for the field events. The "varsity" football field will be within the track. This will be a great improvement in every respect, especially as it will eliminate present friction between track and baseball.

The "varsity" baseball field with wooden stands for spectators is placed with an entrance of its own directly back of the gymnasium and in such a way as to eliminate as far as possible the nuisance of "sun" fields. There is plenty of room for two more baseball fields, which are shown on the plan, also three football fields,—(one shown by dotted lines), in addition to the "varsity" gridiron. This number of football fields is none too much, especially when we consider the growth in popularity of soccer. Thus the space for football is doubled and that for baseball tripled from the present capacity.

At the west side of the field and on the site of the old grand-stand it is planned to erect a permanent concrete stand of worthy design and construction, not a stadium, but perhaps a section of a stadium. The sketch labels it "capacity 5,000", but the writer believes that a larger stand will be necessary, for it is his confident expectation that we shall soon be taking care of football crowds of 10,000 or better in Hanover. A conservative estimate of the cost of such a stand is from $20.00 to $25.00 per seat, and the reader may do his own figuring.

It is proposed to surround so much of the field as has been described with a suitable permanent fence with piers of brick and stone and heavy cypress planking between. A solid wall of brick or of concrete might have been favored, but the cost is prohibitive. The cost of the structure as planned has been figured, and will amount to nearly $50,000. It will be of good appearance, will depreciate very slowly and will require but little attention.

There will be a "Memorial" gateway, probably at the main entrance to the stand, with proper tablets and inscriptions, in which the central idea of the field as a fitting tribute to the Dartmouth heroes of the World War shall be caught up and perpetuated.

Here are great possibilities for the designer and the architect. Let your imagination work upon them for a few minutes; you will be tempted to become a shareholder.

The space east of the gymnasium will be devoted to additional tennis courts and covered hockey rinks, both crying needs. On the sketch eleven additional courts are shown. This is by no means enough to supply the demand, for tennis is deservedly and rapidly increasing in popularity. But it is probable that in reconstruction, the number of courts west of the gymnasium can be somewhat increased and that more courts can be located in other places, for example, just east of the proposed "varsity" diamond. It is to be hoped that a minimum of thirty courts will eventually be secured .

The need for more and better hockey space protected from our frequent weather changes is so obvious that no comment is necessary. This should be one of the very first parts of the actual construction to be undertaken.

It is expected that three years will be needed to carry these plans to completion, but it is also hoped to start the actual work this spring and to prosecute it just as rapidly as the nature of the work to be done and the funds in hand permit. When the new field is built, the gymnasium and the new Spaulding swimming pool will have their worthy complement, and Dartmouth will possess that which she cannot afford to be without—a piece of apparatus for securing the physical well-being of her undergraduates, second to none.

*Note:—Frank S. Streeter 74, Chairman; William N. Cohen '79; Clarence B. Little '81; Homer E. Keyes '00, Secretary.

Professor James P. Richardson '99Faculty Representative on the Athletic Council