This site has no map location yet.

People in its history

Edward Kidder Graham

Indexed works

Books, articles, records and pictures in the index about Emerson Field, found by its names in titles, catalog subjects and the index’s descriptions, and read one by one. Those held at OCPL come first.

About the site

Emerson Field: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1917

Game in progress at Emerson Field, the University of North Carolina athletic ground, in 1917. One photograph from the UNC Campus binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).

CH Historical Society

Emerson Field, University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, N.C.

1916 · Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y

Emerson Field, the University of North Carolina's football field in Chapel Hill, on a 1916 Albertype Co. postcard. The view takes in a goal post and the bleachers.

DPLA

Emerson Stadium: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1916

Emerson Stadium at UNC in 1916, with a game underway on Emerson Field. A single photograph from the UNC Campus binder, Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).

CH Historical Society

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

In the chronology

1914 Isaac Emerson gives $25,000 for a new athletic field and stadium Isaac Emerson of Baltimore, an 1879 graduate who made his fortune with Bromo-Seltzer, gave $25,000 for an athletic field and stadium. The field was under construction when students returned in September 1914 and was named Emerson Field for him.
April 1916 Emerson Field's concrete stadium is ready for the 1916 baseball season The stadium paid for by Isaac Emerson, with white concrete stands behind Bynum Gymnasium seating up to 3,200, was ready for a baseball game with Virginia set for April 3, 1916. Its plans were the first at the university to allow parking for automobiles.
Early 1917 Students form volunteer companies and drill on Emerson Field Before the university had a Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit, about five hundred students formed volunteer companies and drilled on Emerson Field with old Civil War rifles, some 250 of them lent by Julius Cone of Greensboro. In January Graham told the secretary of war that four hundred men were asking for a unit. People: Edward Kidder Graham
Fall 1917 The university suspends intercollegiate football for the war Intercollegiate football was dropped in the fall of 1917 as drilling men took over Emerson Field in the afternoons. Captain Allen took on the coach's duties, conditioning students with trench digging and mock attacks.
Thanksgiving Day 1919 Carolina plays Virginia in Chapel Hill for the first time The Thanksgiving Day game with Virginia, the high point of the season, was held in Chapel Hill for the first time, and more than 8,000 people crowded Emerson Field.

Open these in the chronology →

Research sources

Ask locally 5

Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further

Chapel Hill Historical Society Photographs, maps and papers on Chapel Hill and Carrboro, with a research links page
Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
Local History Help Hours and request form The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
Preservation Chapel Hill Chapel Hill buildings and neighborhoods
Orange County Historical Museum Orange County history, objects, and interpretation

Additional research sources

Other sources to search and local organizations that can help.

Background context: Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 98 cited by 5 events here
Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Emerson Field NC LIVE Articles, e-books and newspapers across the state’s shared databases, already scoped to this site’s names and the county; sign in through your North Carolina library to read
Search beyond the index: North Carolina Collection (UNC) UNC Libraries Published works about the university and its buildings