Soldier Field: A Football Cathedral Never Really Meant for Football

Soldier's Field has always been and forever will be a Chicago staple. Growing up in the inner city being able to go down lake shore drive and see the awesome building that welcomed you into the heart of the city, Downtown Chicago was such a treat !!! This field means so much more to those who have been blessed with the opportunity to be born and raised in Chicago,it is a part of who we are as a city .The history of Chicago is so rich and full and you would be foolish not to include a historical building such as the GREAT Field on the lake front

Soldier Field -- a lot of smoke, a few mirrors and voila -- it's still Soldier Field.

The "new" Soldier Field?

Do you mean the "mistake by the lake"?

Or do you mean the "eyesore by the shore"?

Chicago used to enjoy being called "the city that works," but for a long time it's been more like your average four-man city paving crew - the city that only looks like it's working...

Stock car races were also held in the old Soldiers Field. I think the Hudson was the ride of choice for star drivers like Gene Marmor and "Tiger" Tom Pistone.

Very misleading. In fact the Bears stadium is new. The old Soldier Field no longer exists except for some remnants of the old field. Soldier Field was a horrible place to watch a football game. They wanted to tear the whole thing down but there was an outcry so they faked it up. Kept the name the same.

Worth noting that Soldier's Field deservedly lost its status as a National Historic Landmark after its unsympathetic renovation in the 2000s.

As pointed out below the Cardinal were the South Side team and the Bears the North Side team. Actually, however, the "monsters of the midway" refers to the University of Chicago Maroons, which is also the source of the "football" shaped C on the Bears' helmets. The Cardinals also have a link to U Chicago in that Bidwell purchased old uniforms which were washed out and the maroon had turned to cardinal.
On a more relevant point. My understanding is that was an NFL rule which required the Bears to play their home games north of Roosevelt Road, which is 1200 south. Soldier Field is slightly south of Roosevelt Road and thus the Bears could not play there, even after the Cardinals left, until that rule was changed.
Bear Down!

Very interesting to me, as one who grew up in the Chicago area. Have been to Soldier Field many times, most memorably to see James Brown when I was in high school. But I can't believe you didn't include a a contemporary photo in your slideshow!

I've read that George Halas loved Wrigley Field. He paid very little in rent, and crammed in temporary bleachers that expanded the seating to around 50,000. Those fans would be right on top of the game, and intimidated the opposition. A real home field advantage, Old-time Giants fans may recall from the 1963 NFL championship game how brutal it was to come in and play there, with the combination of the winds and the fans. As the article says, it was only the NFL's insistence that got the Bears out of the place.

Cool article. The expectations people have for stadiums now are ridiculous. It's a football game, what do people expect? I used to work at Soldier Field and attend games there before the spaceship landed and it was a fine place to watch a game. No frills, but you're there to watch football. At least people used to go to watch football. Now it seems the only folks who can afford tickets are people that work in finance and advertising. So maybe I've answered my own question...the snobs took over and they want snob accommodations. Same thing has happened in just about every professional sport and it's a shame. My kids will never know the fun of going to catch a game on a whim, sit in the cheap seats and just have a nice time. The rich get richer...

Soldier Field began its life as Municipal Stadium in October 1924; its name was officially changed on November 11, 1925 -- exactly one year before Route 66 opened for business at Jackson Boulevard & Michigan Avenue, about a mile and a half to the north. The 2003 remodeling did so much damage to the original structure, however, that Soldier Field lost its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. That had never happened before in Chicago, I believe. So much for Lohan's Folly. The stadium looks like a UFO mistook it for a nest and landed there. Herbert Muschamp must have been on hallucinogens when he wrote that approving review. The only people who like it are the fans (and not all of those), who generally like the improved amenities, and the corporate occupants of the skyboxes ... but that's not saying much.

I have very fond memories of the late 50s to the late 60s of attending the Catholic League playoffs. Northside vs Southside..Fenwick, Weber, St Rita, Mt Carmel. In 62 and in front of almost 94,000 fans on a warm December day, the Catholic League Champ, Fenwick, defeated the Public School Champ, Schurz, 40-0. Jim DiLullo ran for 4 touchdowns. Much like Midway Airport at that time, it was an underutilized venue.

For numerous decades, the annual game of College All Stars against the reigning NFL champs was held at Soldier Field.

I lived in Chicago for a lot of years on the west side in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Don't me wrong, I love a lot of Chicago sports. Living hard up on Western Ave. I cheered on Hawks fans storming the city after the 2010 Cup.

But as for the Chicago Bears: Keep the stadium; move the fans.

As a lifetime Chicago resident I was truly appalled when the City ran roughshod over the historic preservation crowd and landed the Millennium Falcon plunk in the middle of our beloved Soldier Field. And we cheered when the stadium lost its landmark designation because of the desecration.

And then I attended a Bears game there. And you know what? It's simply a terrific place to watch a football game, damn it. The sight lines are better and you feel closer in and on top of the game even in the (relatively) cheap seats. Yes, the amenities stadium's are still terrible and antiquated and all that, but the experience of the game itself has only improved. Now as to the quality of the game under observation...well, the less said about that the better.

Soldier Field also host the 1994 World Cup opening ceremony. Oprah was the emcee, in attendance were Bill Clinton and Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Music was performed by Daryl Hall, Jon Secada and Diana Ross. Jürgen Klinsmann, who now coaches the U.S. national soccer team, was playing for Germany in the opening game against Bolivia. That World Cup changed soccer in the U.S. forever; and it started in Soldier Field.

The real reason Halas' grandson talked about moving to Gary in 1995 was because that way the Bears could put a big 'G' on their helmet and maybe people would think that they were the Packers.

No mention of the Chicago Cardinals who played in Soldier Field before they moved to St. Louis and then Arizona?

Solider Field remains a diverse base of events today, including running, soccer and ice hockey. A memorial weekend 10 mile race finishes by the runners entering the stadium and crossing the 50 yard line, with finisher medals handed out by members of our armed services

One bizarre aspect of the original Soldier Field was its long & narrow shape, more Circus Maximus than a conventional facility with a running track. The absence of soccer in the minds of mainstream America prior to the 1960s obviously contributed to that.

Anyone of a certain age who lives or grew up in Chicagoland probably heard all the stories of potential new stadiums & the "Arlington Heights Bears" ad nauseum. I always joke that Orchard Park, NY's Ralph Wilson Stadium came right out of the Sears catalog because its exact design was proposed for both Arlington Heights and the abandoned railroad yards south of The Loop. Dual stadiums for football & baseball were also once considered for the latter. The only dome idea I remember was for a fixed one over Soldier Field with support columns erected outside.

Soldier Field in its single-deck incarnation was actually a pretty neat place. Clearly remember walking around & admiring it on a perfectly sunny spring Sunday in 1978. My other favorite memories are all the soccer matches I watched there. As for Bears games, not so much. My Baltimore Ravens have yet to win there in three tries, including the first two (1998 & 2005) of which I attended.

In 1937 upwards of 120,000 people attended a high school football game at Soldier Field. Yes, a high school game- the city championship between Leo Catholic and Austin. Austin, led by the sensational Bill DeCorrevont, won the game, which remains one of the highest attended football games ever played at any level. As an Austin student more than 30 years later I saw my school team in a playoff game at Soldier Field. We won, but the crowd was considerably smaller.

Soldier Field should have been renovated by expanding the columns outward, leaving enough room inside to build more than 65,000 seats and still have room to expand even further. Now, if the Bears decide that the stadium is too small to make them enough money to compete with other teams, their only choice is to build a whole new stadium, which would mean the end of Soldier Field.

Not much into football but Soldier Field hosted some notable Grateful Dead concerts, including their Fare Thee Well series. Perhaps fitting that the Super Bowl (always makes me think of Berkeley Bowl) will be held at Levi's Stadium, where the Dead did their warm-up concerts before Soldier Field.