Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Lambeau Field, circa 1957-60: Modest-looking from the outside

In its 1957-60 layout, Green Bay's City Stadium -- aka New City Stadium, City Stadium II and, by 1965, Lambeau Field -- was not terribly impressive from the outside. Although it was a marked improvement from its predecessor, City Stadium I, which seated 7,000 fewer people and lacked both a visitors' locker room and public restrooms. This photo is shot from what was then Highland Avenue; it was renamed Lombardi Avenue on Aug. 7, 1968. Notice the absence of arc lights, save for two small sets on the west (press box) side; there were no night games at the stadium until Sept. 4, 1961, when the Packers and Giants played a preseason game on Labor Day evening. It was in 1961 that the stadium was expanded for the first time and no longer had this appearance; a total of 6,519 seats were added in the southeast and southwest corners to increase capacity to 38,669. UPDATE: The above photo could not have been taken during the 1960 season. On April 6, 1960, the Green Bay Common Council solicited bids for lights at City Stadium. While the Packers played no night games at the stadium in 1960 -- the Labor Day preseason game with the newly relocated St. Louis Cardinals was an afternoon game -- the lights are visible in this aerial photo. You can tell it's not yet 1961 because the sideline seating has not been expanded.