New Beaver Field was used by Penn State from 1909-1959; it replaced "Old" Beaver Field, and was replaced by Beaver Stadium.

Overall, NC State had a record of 0-5 at this field, losing all of its matches as non-conference road games. Only one game was played in the rankings era, but neither team was ranked.

  * Non-conference games

Penn State's second home for football, Beaver Field, was built in 1893 and had a capacity of just 500 persons; by the turn of the century, the grounds were insufficient for several reasons. As explained by a local columnist, "With the rapidly increasing number of students and the encroach of new buildings, it was long since manifest that a new athletic field must be provided." By December 1907, construction began on "New" Beaver Field following a $15,000 (just over $500,000 in 2024) appropriation by the state legislature. The site of a former woodlot used by the White and Blue's forestry program, the field sat on a 17 acre plot nestled between two more woodlots which afforded a good view of the Alleghanies. Like its predecessor, it was named for Gen. James A. Beaver, a former Civil War infantry commander, and politician; by 1908, he was also President of the college, though at the time the name was taken from his efforts in fundraising for Old Beaver Field.

The multipurpose field boasted a 1/4-mile track (18 feet wide), a football field, and a baseball diamond, with grounds for lacrosse and tennis also on the premises. While the grandstand from Old Beaver Field was reused, new bleachers were constructed to supplement it, allowing for a total seated capacity of about 1,200; these were all on the east side of the field. The field was dedicated on May 7th, 1909 in an interscholastic high school track meet, a baseball game against Dickinson, and a circus; the White and Blue won the baseball game 6-4 before a crowd of 1,500 [1]. The next Fall, construction began on a grandstand for the baseball field, which was located just northeast of the football field; because the two fields were on the same tract, both were said to be on New Beaver Field, but for my purposes, I'm considering the baseball diamond distinct from the football field [2].

While the Nittany Lions had already been a powerful eastern team for many years, the completion of New Beaver Field helped Penn State enter into the upper echelon of football teams. Four seasons of 7+ wins from 1911-1917 (in an era where they never played more than 9 games) led to the hiring College Football Hall of Fame coach Hugo Bezdek in 1918. Few modifications had been made between its opening and his hiring besides the addition of 500 permanent seats in 1914; in 1920, a massive construction scheme was organized in an effort to convert New Beaver Field into a stadium capable of holding 10,000 persons. Temporary-style stands (uncovered wooden stands) were utilized in 1920 while plans for permanent expansion were shored up; at the same time, both the football and baseball field shifted slightly: the track encircling the field was widened, the field raised and graded, and drainage added. By all accounts, the work, which consisted of adding new bleachers in front of and around the raised stands, was completed ahead of the big 1920 Dartmouth game, which Penn State won 14-7; work was apparently so rushed, some fans left for home with painted seat numerals stained to their pants. Just three years later, the field was expanded yet again, with about 3,250 seats being constructed on the west sideline; a new press box was also constructed. There were also plans to construct temporary bleachers in the endzones and in front of the east and west stands before the 1923 Navy game to boost the field's capacity to 16,000 persons [3].

In 1934, New Beaver Field went under a "reconstruction" program where the old wooden stands were replaced with steel ones with concrete piers serviced by ramps instead of stairs; the track and field facilities were also improved. Plans for an entirely-concrete stadium were rejected due to fears of a prohibitively-high cost of maintenance. Supposedly, all 20,000 future stands were purchased that year, but they were installed in phases so that only 2,400 of the stands were added the first year. Having torn down the entire western wooden stands, the venue's capacity shrank to just 7,620 permanent seats: 2,360 on the west, 4,900 on the east, and 360 box seats.

In 1936, the nearly 30-year old eastern stands were codemned, spurring the school to further action; as a result, the wooden bleachers were torn down. The 8,000 seat west stands were completed prior to the 1936 season, while work started on the lower section of the new steel eastern stands. As a result, the White and Blue had 10,400 permanent seats that season. The eastern stands were expanded to about 13,000 by 1937 and a new scoreboard was installed. The stands were finished by 1939, with the total seating rising to 14,800 -- though room was enough for 16,000, the new seats were laid out to be more spacious. A new press box was also installed [4].

Like many colleges, Penn State saw a boom in attendance in the years following World War II. Simultaneously, their faith in former Hugo Bezdek assistant Bob Higgins, who was elevated to head coach in 1930, was rewarded as he turned in 10 consecutive seasons to end his career with the Nittany Lions, going 22-3-2 in his final three seasons. The success of their football program and their enlarged student body taxed the means of New Beaver Field beyond its limits, resulting in an enlarged plant in 1949 after about 5,000 seats worth of temporary stands, pushing capacity to 20,000, were erected in the meantime.

Finally, work on the permanent bleachers began in 1948, with capacity increasing to over 28,000. Steel bleacher seats were added on each end of the east and west stands, turning it into a horseshoe on the north end (comprising 9,400 new seats) and adding matching 72-foot sections on the other ends, which added 3,500 seats. New dressing rooms were also installed under the west bleachers, and a new double-decker press box was built behind the existing one, which was also on the west side of the field; this move freed up another 250 seats [5].

That was the last major improvement to New Beaver Field; the Nittany Lions remained through 1959. While a growing student enrollment was one motivating factor in the move, the primary reason seems to have been the fact that the field was located in the way of campus expansion, occupying prime real estate in the compact northwest part of University Park's grounds. The stadium had to move "because of the value of the value of the land for classrooms," explained Ernest B. McCoy, dean of the College of Physical Education. It was expected that buildings for the College of Education were expected to take its place.

New Beaver Field was disassembled piece by piece following the White and Blue's final home game (a November 14th, 1959 win against Holy Cross) and relocated to the current location of Beaver Stadium; the metal bleachers constructed 1934-1948 were used to form the lower portion of the new venue. Though it was originally hoped to start the move following the 1958 football season, University administrators decided that allowing a 15-month timetable for preparing the site was more budget-friendly. By 1966, the new buildings (the Keller Conference Center, the Rackley Building, and Pennypacker Hall), as well as a new parking lot, had been built on the former grounds [6].

Photos of New Beaver Field