Football Games at Manhattan Field

Overhead diagram of Manhattan Field, Manhattan, from page one, NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, November 26, 1891.

Manhattan Field, New-York Daily Tribune, Nov. 26, 1891, pg. 1.

“COLLEGE CHEERS IN TOWN • Preparing for the Football Game Today”

Football Games Played at Manhattan Field
(155th to 157th Street at Coogan's Bluff, New York City)
Originally The Polo Grounds #2, 1889-1890.
See an 1891 Map of Carriage Routes to Manhattan Field

(College & amateur - no High School games listed)

Illustration of football fans in the grandstands at Manhattan Field, November 26, 1891, looking north towards the Polo Grounds to the north.

Thanksgivings Day 1891 at Manhattan Field. Note the Polo Grounds to the north.

9/19/1891 Princeton v Manhattan A.C. definitely played
10/22/1891 Princeton “Picked”/“Runts” 15 - Manhattan A.C. _
10/31/1891 Princeton 73 - Wesleyan 0 72-0? att:3,000
11/3/1891 Manhattan A.C. scrubs 62 - Princeton "Picked" (scrubs) 6 or 8 att: 700
11/7/1891 Manhattan A.C. 16 - N.Y.A.C. 0 att: 1,000 12-0?
11/14/1891 Yale 48 - Penn 0 5,000
11/21/1891 Rutgers v. Manhattan A.C. not played (Rutgers 34 - Manhattan A.C. Cherry Diamonds 0 at Neilson Field, New Brunswick)
11/25/1891 Penn 18 - Wesleyan 10 1,000-1,500-2,000
11/26/1891 Yale 19 - Princeton 0 40,000

“YALE IN PRINCETON TERRITORY” from New York Herald, November 27, 1891; illustration of Yale-Princeton Thanksgivings Day football game at Manhattan Field, as seen from stands.

The Big Game returns to New York, Thanksgivings Day, 1891

10/8/1892 Stevens 6 - Manhattan A.C. 4 att: 100
10/12/1892 Manhattan A.C. v Rutgers Cancelled
10/15/1892 Yale 22 - Manhattan AC 0 1,500-2,500
10/19/1892 Manhattan A.C. v Schuykill Navy [played?]
10/29/1892 Manhattan A.C. v N.Y.A.C. not played?
10/29/1892 Princeton 60 - Wesleyan 0 3,000
11/12/1892 Yale 28 - Penn 0 10-12,000
11/15/1892 Yale v Cornell not played
11/18/1892 Cornell 16 - Manhattan A.C. 0 att: 200
11/24/1892 Yale 12 - Princeton 6 28,000

“THE GREAT FOOTBALL MATCH ON MANHATTAN FIELD”, engraving of game being played, seen from crowd, looking towards Coogan's Bluff, at Manhattan Field, November 24, 1892, from New Tork Herald, November 25, 1892.

Yale bests Princeton before 28,000 on Thanksgivings Day, 1892.

10/6/1893 New York Athletic Club v Stevens [played?]
10/14/1893 N.Y.A.C. 14 - Rutgers 0
10/21/1893 Princeton 46 - Cornell 0 11,000
10/28/1893 Princeton 76 - Wesleyan 0 4,000 10/29?
11/4/1893 Harvard 34 - Cornell 0
11/7/1893 Yale 42 - N.Y.A.C. 0
11/11/1893 Yale 14 - Penn 6
11/25/1893 Lehigh 34 - University of North Carolina 0
11/30/1893 Princeton 6 - Yale 0 50,000

“SCENE DURING THE GREAT PRINCETON-YALE GAME • At Exciting Moments After the Game Was on. When Nearly All Arose to Their Feet to Shout, This Whole North Side Combination of Stands and Coaches Seemed to Mingle Into One Vast Ascending Assemblage of Enthusiasm.” Engraving from New York Herald, Friday, December 1, 1893.

Princeton bests Yale before 50,000 on Thanksgivings Day, 1893.

10/20/1894 Princeton 46 - Cornell 0 4,000
10/27/1894 Harvard 22 - Cornell 12 5,000 22-7?
12/1/1894 Yale 24 - Princeton 0 20,000

Illustration from New york Herald, December 2, 1894, “CHEERING A PLUNGE THROUGH CENTRE IN THE BIG GAME” of Princeton-Yale football game as seen from stands, Thanksgivings Day, 1894.

11/5/1895 Penn v. Boston Amateur Athletic club Canceled [Penn faculty disallows Penn playing non-college opponents.]
11/9/1895 Princeton 6 - Cornell 0
11/16/1895 Yale 26 - Orange Athletic Club 0 3,500 (7,000)
11/23/1895 Yale 20 - Princeton 10 50,000
11/28/1895 Carlisle College 16 - New York Y.M.C.A. 4 1,500
11/30/1895 7th Regiment Armory Company K 4 - 7th Regiment Armory Company I 0

Illustration from the New-York Daily Tribune, November 23, 1895, titled “CHEERS FOR YALE” showing the annual Yale-Princeton game from the stands.

Note the people watching for free from atop the bluff and the building roofs above the field for the 1895 Big game.

10/24/1896 Yale 12 - Carlisle 6 14,000
11/14/1896 Elizabeth A.C. 6 - Orange A.C. 6 4,500 (1,500/3,000) [“Championship of New Jersey”]
11/21/1896 Princeton 24 - Yale 6 30,000(50,000)
11/26/1896 Brown 24 - Carlisle 12 6,500 (or 5,000/10,000)

Also known as Columbia Field 1899-1900.
10/14/1899 Princeton 11 - Columbia 0 4,000
10/18/1899 Columbia 40 - N.Y.U. 0
10/21/1899 Columbia 18 - Amherst 0
10/28/1899 Columbia 5 - Yale 0 20,000
11/7/1899 Cornell 29 - Columbia 0 25,000
11/11/1899 Princeton 12 - Carlisle 0 18,000
11/18/1899 Columbia 22 - Dartmouth 0 7,500
11/25/1899 Columbia Medical School v Cornell Medical School [played?]
11/30/1899 Carlisle 45 - Columbia 0 25,000
12/1/1899 Columbia Medical School v Long Island Medical College [played?]

Decmber 1, 1899 New York Herald Ilustration of Columbia v. Carlisle football game at Manhattan Field; portion of full page on events around New York on Thanksgivings Day.

Portion of “Thanksgiving Day Sports Attended by Many Thousands”

10/6/1900 Columbia 12 - Wesleyan 0 8,000
10/10/1900 Columbia 0 - Williams 0 1,500
10/17/1900 Columbia (subs) 45 - Stevens Institute 0 att: 500
10/27/1900 Yale 12 - Columbia 5
11/6/1900 Columbia 6 - Princeton 5
11/17/1900 Columbia 11 - Navy 0 1,000
11/21/1900 Columbia v Manhattan College cancelled
11/24/1900 Columbia Law School v Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons [played?]
11/29/1900 Columbia 17 - Carlisle 6 36,000

Photograph in an oval frame from the New York Herald, Friday, November 30, 1900; illustrations of fanfare bugel being blown, woman fan with 'C' pennant. Captioned INDIANS TRY COLUMBIA'S CENTRE WITHOUT GAIN. Picture of football being played on Manhattan Field during Columbia versus Carlisle football game.

Columbia beats Carlisle before 36,000 on Thanksgivings Day, 1900

Notes:
	• Usually twice as many watched the games from neighboring viaducts and bluffs than paid to enter. This is reason for two attendance figures listed, and the reason why the big football games were moved to The Polo Grounds (#3) just north in 1897.
	• Manhattan Field had been the second Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants National League baseball team. The field remained, but everything else was rebuilt. Manhattan Field was the first sports stadium with all-iron grandstands.
	• In 1894, the first international track and field meet was held there.

Portion of 1898 city survey map showing Manhattan Field and the Polo Grounds.

1898 city survey map (portion)