It hosted Denver Pioneers football until the program was discontinued in early 1961, due to mounting deficits. The stadium had a seating capacity of 30,000 at its peak, and the natural grass field had a conventional north–south orientation at an elevation of 5,350 feet (1,630 m) above sea level. Nearly half a century in age, it was torn down in the early 1970s.
Stadium history
DU played its first football game in 1885, and by 1909 had moved to a 10,000-seat grandstand in University Park. By 1924, DU football had outgrown that grandstand, and DU alumni decided to launch an ambitious public bond drive to fund a new stadium. The university broke ground for Hilltop Stadium in March 1925.
Construction
The construction costs ran just under $571,000, with the project using one million board-feet of lumber, 7,000 cubic feet (200 m3) of concrete and 295 tons of steel. Gavin Hadden, an engineer whose office was in New York City, designed the stadium; he also designed the football stadiums at Cornell, Brown, and Northwestern.[clarification needed][2][failed verification] The community called the new structure by the nickname “Monument to Concrete.” The famous sculptor Robert Garrison created two massive figures of athletes, one male and one female, for the stadium's main entrance as symbols of the value of coeducation and “the vitality, the vigor, and the strength of modern American youth”.
The use of Hilltop Stadium extended beyond the realm of athletic competition as well: aviator Charles Lindbergh visited the Denver landmark during a parade held in his honor in 1927, several months after his solo transatlantic flight.[4] Hilltop Stadium also hosted outdoor theater productions and DU commencement ceremonies for a number of years.
The university decided to demolish Hilltop Stadium in 1971. The venue had started to crumble, and after the discontinuation of the DU football program in January 1961, a costly reconstruction of the main grandstand seemed unwarranted. Although the large crescent-shaped section on the west side was removed, the far smaller section to the east remained until 1974.
DU also needed the space for its growing intramural sports program: new plans included ten lighted tennis courts and three regulation-sized playing fields for a wide variety of sports. Today, the Benjamin F. Stapleton, Jr. Tennis Pavilion, Diane Wendt Sports Field, University of Denver Soccer Stadium and Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium all stand on the site of the old Hilltop Stadium.
A few remnants of the stadium remain today. The light towers now stand in working order at Englewood High School's football field, and the old line markers are housed at the Anderson Academic Commons, formerly the Penrose Library on the DU campus.
