Return to the main page

Washington & Lee has used Wilson Field for almost all of their athletics at one time or another since its construction in 1895; it was their first formal athletic field, and continues to host their football team to this day. In-town rival Virginia Military Institute (VMI) also used the field for some of their larger games from 1939 through 1949, and as their full-time home field from 1950-1955, and again from 1959-1961.

Overall, NC State had a record of 2-4-1 at this field, with a 1-4 conference record as members of the Southern Conference, and a 1-0-1 record in non-conference matches. There was also a single scheduled meeting canceled in 1908 due to heavy snow.

  * Non-conference games
  ** Time is approximated from discussions of pre-game meetings discussed here.

Despite Washington & Lee (likely) participating in the South's first college football game (a 4-2 win over in-town rival Virginia Military Institute in 1873), the Generals long lacked suitable athletic grounds, with their existing home field sloping considerably, contributing to several sprained ankles. When they revived the sport in 1890, this was exacerbated by the faculty's refusal to grant any student athletes a leave of absence for off-campus games, effectively prohibiting away games.

In early November 1890, the Lexingtonians left their injury-riddled campus grounds and purchased a plot of land from the Lexington Development Company "near old Liberty Hall," calling their new grounds "University View." Though a single reference is made in 1905 to Liberty Hall Field*, it's not clear if the University View field was used after 1890. Regardless, the move seems to have been short-lived: by May 1892, a correspondent in the college journal bemoaned the "poor grounds at our disposal," noting that "nothing can be done without an athletic field." Around this time, the team started using a new field located nearly Hotel De Hart, an ornate boarding house which was located off of what is now Borden Rd [1].

It's not clear how long the latter grounds remained in use, but by March 1893, students had formed an athletic association began collecting funds with the intention of getting a permanent field. This plan was realized in June 1895, when the school began grading work on what is now Wilson Field. "They have long felt the need of a suitable place for the playing of their football and baseball teams," explained the editor, "and the want of success Washington and Lee has met with... can be largely ascribed to the want of suitable training grounds." Work on the site, located near the gymnasium and west of the railroad tracks, began in early July. Construction efforts required considerable grading: one paper noted that workers "had to carve... the athletic field out of solid rock." Work on the multi-use football, baseball, and track (with tennis courts located adjacent) cost about $5,000 (just under $193,000 in 2025) and opened on October 12th, 1895 with an 18-0 loss to in-town rival VMI; the bulk of the money was either donated by college president General Curtis Lee just ahead of his retirement, or realized from congressional restitution for Hunter's Raids of 1864; reports differ [2] [3]:(215).

The initial field had one drawback: there was no significant seating. While there was a limited amount of bleacher seating in the center field area, they were derided by fans as "but a few old planks nailed on to the side of an embankment." The problem was keenly felt: both the football and baseball teams spent the 1901 seasons campaigning for some form of covered seating; after a year of no progress, the 1902 Calyx defined a grandstand was "An imaginary object on the Athletic field." Complaining of their poor athletic support, one student opined that "we had better disband the Athletic Association, rent the field for a cow lot, and devote the proceeds into a fund for converting the University into an Institution for the Instruction of Fossils, Book-worms and other Non-entities." There was still no permanent seating in 1904, when the student paper noted that some students elected to watch the Roanoke game from the inside of Reid Hall [4].

While there are references in the college paper to a grandstand as early as 1905, I've found no details of its construction. It is my assumption that the few references such a structure between 1905 and 1907 were discussing those same old bleachers, perhaps improved in some limited capacity. A permanent grandstand was finally added in 1908 alongside an increase in the size of the field, improvements to the track, and the construction of another tennis court. The new grandstand, located on the west side of the field, sat 500 persons and cost about $2,000 (about $105,000 today) to construct, with funding covered by a combination of a new athletic fee (introduced in 1907), and plays put on by librarian Miss Annie Joe White [5].

About this time, the field was named for the first time, having been called either University Field or Athletic Field for most of the first decade. The earliest reference I've found to the grounds being named Wilson Field came in 1901, though the name was not consistently applied for another 5 years, and I've found no formal announcement of the christening. It was named in honor of William L. Wilson, the university's 13th president, who tragically passed away just 3 years into his position in October 1900. Wilson had personally supported the football team's endeavors and generally took a healthy interest in athletics at the university [6] [3]:(219, 247).

A new round of renovations began in March 1910, with much of the work focusing on improving the field's drainage and improving the multi-use field's performance for football by planting the diamond's infield with grass. Additionally, the hard clay on the grounds -- which caused a surplus of injuries -- was planted over with a topping layer of sod. The following spring, the football field was given a "turtleback" shape, the track was made 1/5-mile in length, and the field generally enlarged by blasting some of the hills surrounding the area and filling in a gulley on the north side. New bleachers were also added along the 3rd base line, and the long-wanted cinder track was completed, though they did little to supplement seating: a recap of the Generals' 1914 season noted that "a crowd of 1,000... would be a case not of standing room only, but of breathing room only" [7].

A dozen years later, the field was enlarged once again. The western hill that had long crowded the venue was almost entirely blasted away over the summer, and leftover debris were used to fill a gulley on another portion of the grounds, enlarging the size to about 7 acres. Work started ahead of the 1922 football season, but was paused due to a combination of poor weather and funding. Work resumed in March, with excavation "practically completed" by September. Because the old grandstand had already been demolished, a series of temporary wooden bleachers, seating about 6,000, were erected in the interim.

The following season, the field was reoriented about 90 degrees to run northeast to southwest to maximize the space and take the sun out of spectators' eyes. Work also began on replacing the old "splinter stadium" with permanent steel bleachers starting in mid-November, with plans to expand as funding became available; located on the west side of the field, the first unit sat 2,500 persons. In total, about $40,000 (about $760,000 today) of money was put into the improvements, which were ready around May 1924; some call this Wilson Field II. Before the 1925 baseball season, the primary diamond was moved to the south side of the stadium, facing northeast, with the third base line running along the steel bleachers; the old one was retained for freshman games [8].

Though the capacity of the stadium was severely pushed on a nearly annual basis in the 1920s, university officials elected to supplement the seating through temporary construction, rather than permanent, adding as many as 7,000 spots some seasons. The coffers were opened in the late 1920s, though not on seating: in 1927, the school spent nearly $40,000 (about $750,000 in 2025) on a cement bridge to cross the railroad tracks. The necessity was plainly felt: since opening in 1895, patrons had to "descend a precipitous slope and cross a railroad before reaching the stadium." Work started in September and was virtually finished in March.

In 1928, four thousand wooden stands were erected on the east side of the field opposite the permanent stands, pushing capacity to 6,500. Though officially considered temporary, they seem to have remained after the influx of patrons they were built for, as they were included in several of the following seasons' tallies. The next season, about 1,000 seats were added on the hill, pushing seating to exactly 7,666, and in early 1930 a scoreboard and public address (PA) system were installed for the first time. The seating was permanently increased in 1931, when 5,000 seats were placed above their existing concrete stands, with dressing rooms and showers located beneath the structures. The work cost $40,000 (just over $850,000 in 2025) and also included a press box and a presidents' box [9].

While the large hill adjacent to the stadium was fully and finally converted to rubble by the erection of multiple intramural fields in 1941, enhancements to the stadium itself lagged: if an when needed, bleachers were schlepped about a mile-and-a-half uphill from the neighboring Alumni Field, more than doubling seating to as many as 16,000 persons. The series of underground tile drainage systems the school had installed proved to be inadequate -- the field was littered with "sink holes and other 'natural hazards'" -- so in 1947 they gave up on that approach and made the field a "turtle back" type with an elevated center. And the infield wasn't the only portion of the grounds in disrepair: the scoreboard had deteriorated to the point of uselessness, and had been at that state for an uncertain number of years. It was replaced by an electric one partway through the 1947 season. At some point in the late 1940s or early 1950s, the press box was enlarged and flanked with two other structures [10].

The 1950s were a strange time for the Generals' football field, with rising costs and the growing prevalence of athletic scholarships straining smaller institutions. In fact, for a time, both Washington & Lee and VMI shared use of Wilson Field as a home site, pooling their resources into one single field rather than supporting two. Later, W&L faculty joined the increasing number of schools who put the kibosh on varsity football when the suspended the team for the 1954 season; the sport continued on a JV basis for that season and was revived without scholarships the following year. Strangely, there may have been temporary lights installed in 1953 or 1955 (or both) to allow for nocturnal practice, but no games were ever played at night, and no details of their installation have been found. Similarly, baseball finally left Wilson Field for Dick Smith Field I, located at the present site of Watt Field, near Liberty Hall. The move was made in 1951 despite the diamond having been opened in 1947 [11].

At some point (likely the late 1950s), the eastern bleachers were removed: capacity was said to once again be precisely 7,666 with just the western stands. Despite the fact I've found I have been unable to find any improvements of note to the stadium besides the replacement of the scoreboard in 1965, it remained one of the largest stadiums in Division III for decades. Continuing with tertiary upgrades, the locker rooms and press box were renovated in 1985; ten years later, the track and field were reworked to add a new running surface and a shotput pit on the north side, as well as a new training building on the north side of the stadium. A new track was installed oncemore in 2004.

After decades of general neglect, the need for major updates was felt with increasing acuity. In reference to its utilitarian construction, the venue was decried as "an ugly battleship from the Civil War era," and a 2005 study even toyed with the idea of building a new stadium and using the space for additional dorms. Eventually, it was decided to rebuild the stadium in its existing location; work began in late October 2007, and after seven months and $15.5 million (about $23.3 million in 2025) in renovations, from the rubble emerged a new 4,000 seat stadium -- 3,500 on the west side, and 500 seats for visitors on the east, with the main unit covered in a brick veneer to better match the campus aesthetics. Complete with a new track, a new press box, a new scoreboard, and -- for the first time in its history -- permanent lighting and an artificial surface of Field Turf, the venue was brand new in every aspect except the location. Because of this, some consider the teardown to have yielded a third venue: Wilson Field III. The next major batch of work was completed over the summer of 2024, when the track and sythnetic turf was replaced with another brand of Field Turf (FTVTP-1 CORE), and a new scoreboard was installed [12] [13].

* It's not immediately clear if the "Liberty Hall Field" referenced is the same as the parking lot now named Liberty Hall Field, or if it was in the location of any of the current fields in the immediate area, including Fuge Field, Alston Parker Watt Field, W&L Turf Field, Dick Smith Baseball Field, or even modern-day Wilson Field.

Pictures of Wilson Field