Sal Hall Stadium - Washington, DC

Sal Hall Stadium, originally named Central High School Stadium, is a high school field which saw college use as a neutral field in the early 20th century.

Overall, NC State had a record of 1-0 at this field, defeating Maryland State (now Maryland) in a conference game.

Date	Opponent	Time	Ranking	Result	Attendance	Length	Comments
11/3/1917	vs Maryland State	3 PM	-	W, 10 - 6		48 min.

* Non-conference games

Washington's Central High School was built from 1914-1916 to replace Washington High School, the city's first high school, which opened in 1882. The plans for the school started in 1914 with an expected cost of $1.2 million (almost $36.5 in 2023) and included "an athletic field adjoining" the new school grounds. Plans called for a 6,000-seat stadium measuring 600' x 450' for football, baseball, and track and field usage, with a 1/6-mile track encircling the grounds [4]. The cornerstone of the new building was laid in November 1914 [5].

When the school opened in 1916, the new football grounds were yet to open. Though all the work was complete, "foot ball [sic] is not to be allowed, because of the possibility that the new turf might be torn up and injured permanently"; students used nearby American League Park as much as posisble in its place [1] [2] [3]. The field finally opened to the public for the first time on May 11th, 1917 for a track meet between area high schools, and held its first football action on Friday, September 28th; Central defeated Baltimore City College 64-0 [6] [7].

In 1923, the stadium was renamed the Emory M. Wilson Memorial Stadium in honor of the school's former principal, who led the school for 18 years [8]. Before the 1950 school year began, the body of Cardozo High School, a black business high school, was relocated to the building of Central High School, which was an all-white comprehensive school. This took place primarily because Cardozo's old building was overcrowded, while Central's was underfilled [9] [10]. The field appears to have been renamed Cardozo Stadium when this took place, and was renamed Sal Hall Stadium in 1986 to honor the school's long-time track and field coach, Sylvester R. "Sal" Hall [17].

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find many details of specific renovations to the venue. The school has a unique sideways horseshoe design, which is has retained since its opening. Various area colleges used the grounds from time to time through about the 1930s, including American, Catholic, and George Washington, but it was never a home field for any of the schools.

Location of Central High School Stadium (now Cardozo Stadium) on an interactive map of Washington, DC.

Pictures of Sal Hall Stadium

A postcard (circa 1930s) showing Central High School Stadium in the foreground and the rear of the school in the background [11]

Central High School can be seen from about the endzone of the athletic field, circa 1910s. Note the dugouts beneath the stands [12]

Track and field exercises, circa 1910s [12]

Images from the 1917 NC State-Maryland game [16]

Modern images of Sal Hall Stadium [14] [15]

[1]	DC Historic Sites - Central High School (Cardozo Senior High School)
[2]	Wikipedia - Cardozo Education Campus
[3]	The Evening Star, September 7th, 1916, p. 13
[4]	The Brecky, 1914, pp. 158-159
[5]	The Washington Times, November 14th, 1914, p. 4
[6]	The Washington Times, May 11th, 1917, p. 11
[7]	The Evening Star, September 27th, 1917, p. 18
[8]	The Evening Star, June 1st, 1923, p. 5
[9]	The Evening Star, February 14th, 1950, p. A9
[10]	The Evening Star, February 26th, 1950, p. B7
[11]	CardCow.com - Central High School and Stadium, Washington, D.C.
[12]	Ghosts of DC - More Photos of Cardozo High School (formerly Central High School)
[13]	Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
[14]	Dan Macy on Flickr - Cardozo SHS football field
[15]	Hartman-Cox Architects - Francis L. Cardozo High School
[16]	Reveille, 1918, p. 142
[17]	Sylvester R. Hall - A Legend In His Time

Last updated: 8/23/2023