Students Walking out of the Memorial Field House in June, 1949

This is a photograph of the front of the Memorial Field House taken in June, 1949. In the photograph, there are more than 40 male students walking out of the front door of the field house. Most students are wearing long sleeve shirts or sweaters, the two students in front of the photograph on the left side are wearing shorts. The photograph was used in a May 12, 1963 Springfield Sunday Republican rotogravure section.The Memorial Field House was originally used as a basic training facility by the US Navy at Sampson, New York. In 1946, Springfield College qualified for a drill hall and the government disassembled and transported the building to Springfield College. The field house was opened on February 21, 1948. On that day the first basketball game was held in the new arena, with Springfield College playing Providence College. William R. Chase, a member of the first group of men to play basketball in 1891, tossed the ceremonial first ball. The building was divided into three sections: the Gymnasium area, the Arena area, and the Class and Game Room area. The Gymnasium area was 140 x 80 feet of permanent maple flooring and could accommodate 5 volleyball, or 9 badminton, or 3 basket ball courts, or some combination of the three games. Separate showers and locker rooms for 4 visiting teams were in this area. The arena area comprised 230 feet of open earth surface for field events (this included space for its removable hardwood floor) and had the ability up to accommodate 4000 spectators at public events (seating for Basketball games was around 2500). The class and game room area had space for offices and temporary class-rooms which could also be converted to specialized game rooms for boxing, wrestling, fencing and calisthenics. There was also a garage that was converted into 6 handball courts. The building was demolished in 1979 due to the fact that the wood arch could not meet minimum building code requirements. A new Physical Education Complex replaced the Memorial Field House, and was formally dedicated on October 30, 1981