Baker Athletics Complex
555 West 218th Street | also 501 West 218th Street | Inwood Hill Park | built 1985
Open on the map6 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1921
Financier George F. Baker gives Columbia the land for its Inwood athletic fields
On December 30, 1921, financier George F. Baker donated the land that became Columbia University's athletic complex at the northern tip of Manhattan, still named for him. A wooden stadium was built on the grounds in 1928 and stood until 1982, when it was demolished; Wien Stadium replaced it in 1984.
Source: gocolumbialions.com
- 1928
An earlier 32,000-seat wooden stadium rises on the Baker Field site
Five years after Columbia's football team first plays at Baker Field, a 32,000-seat wooden stadium is built on the site. It stays in use until 1982, when it is demolished to clear the ground for today's Wien Stadium.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1939
NBC televises a Columbia-Princeton baseball game, the first TV broadcast of a U.S. sporting event
On May 17, 1939, NBC's experimental station W2XBS broadcast a Princeton-Columbia baseball game from Baker Field, the first televised sporting event in the United States. A single camera on a 12-foot wooden stand along the third-base line covered the game, Bill Stern called it, and Princeton won 2-1 in ten innings. Future Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman played shortstop for Columbia.
Source: nbcsports.com
- 1984
Columbia opens Lawrence A. Wien Stadium on the Baker Field site
The new stadium opened on September 22, 1984, replacing the 1928 wooden stadium, with 10,500 seats at first and 17,000 from 1986. In 2007 the playing field was named Robert K. Kraft Field after Robert Kraft donated $5 million to Columbia, and on November 20, 2015, the team played its first-ever Friday night home game under lights.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1988
Columbia wins at home, ending a 44-game losing streak that was then an NCAA record
Columbia's football team beats Princeton on October 8, 1988, its first home win since the new Wien Stadium opened in 1984. The 44-game losing streak, which began in 1983, was the longest in the NCAA record books at that point. In 1983, while the stadium was under construction, the Lions played all their games away, including two at Giants Stadium and one at Hofstra.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2007
Robert Kraft's $5 million gift puts his name on the field
Columbia names the playing surface at Wien Stadium for Robert Kraft, class of 1963 and owner of the New England Patriots, after he donates $5 million to the university. The football field becomes Robert K. Kraft Field, while the stands keep the name of trustee and philanthropist Lawrence Wien, class of 1925.
Source: Wikipedia
Nearby
- Robertson Field at Satow Stadium543 West 218th Street | 3 entries
- Campbell Sports Center501 West 218th Street | 3 entries
- Class of 1929 Boathouse607 West 218th Street | 1 entry
- Commisso Soccer Stadium507 West 218th Street | 3 entries
- Park Terrace Gardens65 Park Terrace East | 2 entries
- Seaman-Drake Arch5063 Broadway | 9 entries