First and Fisher: America’s Oldest high school football stadium

While writing Wednesday’s story on historic Kentucky’s duPont Manual Memorial Stadium getting a facelift, I began to think about the oldest high school football stadium in the country. Memorial Stadium in Louisville was built in 1924.

As many of you know, I love photographing stadiums around America. That hobby led to High School Football America’s Stadium Project.

Visit HSFA Stadium Project

My passion for taking photos of high school football stadiums, especially the older ones, is rooted in the start of my journalism career in 1974. My first paid assignment was as a statistician at Cottingham Stadium on WEST-AM Radio in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Like Manual’s Memorial Stadium, Cottingham Stadium opened in 1924. While Cottingham received a major modern day makeover several years ago, I’ve always talked about my love of the old stadium with its concrete grandstands.

My passion for Cottingham’s concrete stands led me to El Paso in 2015 to check-out the first-ever concrete stadium in America — R.R. Jones Stadium, built in 1916.

As I began writing this column, I thought “The Lady on the Hill”, which offers great views of El Paso and city of Ciudad Juarez, across the Mexico border, is the oldest. However, some quick research eliminated the El Paso stadium and took me to Tacoma, Washington.

In 1910, Tacoma Stadium was built. The Stadium Bowl, as it’s now known now, is one of the most picturesque stadiums in the country.

While I’ve never visited this incredible 15,000 seat stadium, the below photo from Wikipedia shows its beauty.

Finally, my research took me back to my home state of Pennsylvania where I discovered that Offutt Field in Greensburg may be the oldest stadium in use in 2025.

Opened in 1890 as as Athletic Park, Offutt Field is home to the Greensburg Salem Golden Lions. It’s gone through many renovations over the last 135 years. Below are recent photos and I’ll continue looking for an older one.

Now, I turn to the awesome High School Football America family to see if anyone out there knows of an older stadium than Offutt Field. If you know of an older one, email me at fisher@highschoolfootballamerica.com.

Also, if you want your stadium/field featured in our Stadium Project, feel free to email photos.