Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Green Bay Packers - Home Stadiums


Fall 2021: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Packers poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

A. The Green Bay Packers franchise was established in 1921 although the team was actually founded in 1919 and played two seasons of football against local competition. Since their entry to the NFL in 1921, the team has been known by two names:
1921: Acme Packers
1922 - Present: Green Bay Packers

B. The Packers home stadiums:
The Packers have an unusual home field history in that each season from 1933 to 1994, the team played some home games in Green Bay and other home games in Milwaukee. Since 1995, all home games have been played in Green Bay.

A. Green Bay Stadiums
1. Hagemeister Park, Green Bay
1919-22

Note re Hagemeister Park from the Green Bay Packers website: Hagemeister Park was a large public park along the banks of the East River, where the Packers began playing on an open field in 1919. Fans helped build a fence around the playing field so the Packers could charge admission in 1920, but the small wooden ballpark was torn down following the season. In the spring of 1921, a look-alike was built on the same spot and with the same lumber to serve Green Bay’s amateur baseball team. When the Packers were admitted in late August to what is now the NFL, seating was enlarged to about 3,500. In all, the Packers played here for four seasons – their inaugural two, plus their first two in the NFL.



2. Bellevue Park (Green Bay East High School), Green Bay
1923-24

Note re Bellevue Park from the Green Bay Packers website: When the ballpark at Hagemeister was torn down in May 1923 to allow for construction of East High School, Bellevue Park was built in less than three weeks with the same lumber. It was rushed to completion to accommodate the local amateur baseball team. The land was owned by the Hagemeister Products Co. (formerly Hagemeister Brewery) and was located at what was then the end of Main Street.



3. City Stadium (Green Bay East High School), Green Bay
1925-56

Note re City Stadium which was built on the same location as Bellevue Park: The Packers played at City Stadium for 32 seasons. It was made almost entirely of wood and expanded several times to reach peak capacity of roughly 25,000. Curly Lambeau starred in the first game here and Bart Starr made his first pro start in the last.


Circa 1925


Circa 1950

4. Green Bay City Stadium (aka City Stadium II) / Lambeau Field, Green Bay
1957-Present

Notes re Green Bay City Stadium from the Green Bay Packers website: The stadium that enjoys iconic status today had very humble beginnings. Originally built at a cost of $960,000, an amount shared equally by the Packers Corporation and the city of Green Bay, the facility was financed by way of a bond issue that received 2-to-1 voter approval in a municipal referendum conducted April 3, 1956. Located in southwest Green Bay, surrounded on three sides by the village of Ashwaubenon, Lambeau Field originally was built on farmland, purchased for $73,305. The stadium’s original architect, Somerville Inc., favored the current site because it was sloped, making it perfect to build a bowl. Dedicated as Green Bay City Stadium Sept. 29, 1957 – a day that 32,132 fans saw Green Bay topple the hated Chicago Bears, 21-17 – attendees included Vice President Richard Nixon and NFL Commissioner Bert Bell. In 1965, the facility was renamed Lambeau Field following the death of E.L. “Curly” Lambeau, the Packers’ co-founder and first coach.


Circa 1957


Circa 1990


Circa 2004



















Circa 2018

B. Milwaukee Stadiums
1. Borchert Field, Milwaukee
1933-34


2. State Fair Park, Milwaukee
1935-51


3. Marquette Stadium, Milwaukee
1952


4. County Stadium, Milwaukee
1953-94


C. For more information on the Packers, you should bookmark these four great websites:

For a huge amount of great historic player and team information:
www.databasefootball.com
and
www.pro-football-reference.com/teams

For a great summary of the Packers' year by year standings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Green_Bay_Packers_seasons

For great information about the team's stadiums (don't be fooled by the fact that the website is called "ballparks.com", it also has great information on football stadiums):
www.ballparks.com

D. Celebrate the Packers' uniform history by owning a piece of history:
If you love the Green Bay Packers and the history of the Packers franchise, you might really love to own an original piece of artwork celebrating the team's historic uniforms as seen in the poster at the top of this blog - you can actually own one of those original pieces of art! There are only 13 pieces of original art available for sale, and when these 13 are sold, that's it, they're all sold out.

These original watercolor paintings would make a great gift (birthday gift, anniversary gift, retirement gift, Christmas gift, etc.) for someone you love or even a great gift for yourself (one of these framed pieces would look fantastic in your home or office). Each piece can be bought one of three ways:
1. As unframed art that you could have framed or mounted yourself (the one on the left)
2. Framed in our "Classic" framed version (the middle version)
3. Framed in our "Deluxe" framed version (the version on the right)



If you would like more information about this great artwork including the three ways you could purchase each piece, please visit our Green Bay Packers YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OHeUiL45qw or go directly to the artwork website www.heritagesportsart.com/Green-Bay-Packers-c115/ where you can see and purchase the artwork.

And if someone you know loves the history of sports uniforms (but maybe another team) and loves great art, please let them know that we have over 1500 pieces of great original artwork for sale at www.heritagesportsart.com (all NFL teams, all MLB teams, all NHL teams, all CFL teams, select NCAA football teams) or check out each team's video at the Heritage Sports Art YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/user/ssillcox

E. Stadium artwork
Please note that the actual original, hand drawn pen and ink sketches used for the 11 stadium images shown above are available for sale as a complete collection to one Green Bay Packers fan. If you are interested in being the owner of this complete and original collection of Green Bay Packers home stadium images, please contact me by email ssillcox@rogers.com and I can explain how they can all be framed in two beautiful pieces - one celebrating their Green Bay Stadiums and the other celebrating their Milwaukee Stadiums.

And please search my blog archive http://heritagejerseys.blogspot.com/ for other blogs on the history of the Packers.

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This blog was written by Scott Sillcox and was last updated August 17, 2010. I have tried to ensure the accuracy of the information, but I am human and can make mistakes. If you believe I have made a mistake, please let me know by email at ssillcox@rogers.com !

Many thanks!!!
Scott

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Thank you for taking the time to add a comment - all input is welcome, especially the constructive kind! All the best - Scott