ISU signage on Jack Trice to change for renovations

[Aclone]

Sorry, my slightly tongue-in-cheek point was that forty years ago, had they known that the Dairy Farm (and other properties along that stretch) would become obsolete, essentially condemned by the City, then they could have built out of the flood plain, in a place both more accessible (with a State interchange) with more room for parking and potential for further expansion.

Certainly a better use of University property along Mortenson than selling it off cheap for realty corporations to build (often poorly built) apartments.

For that matter, ISU should have purchased most of the two blocks west (north and south of Westgate) of campus in the eighties when it was still full of wood frame rooming houses...but that's entirely another issue.

Back on topic...I am really pumped at how the stadium will look when that first game rolls around. Especially when the product on the field (and the field) is goung to look just as sharp.

[Bobber]

Originally Posted by Aclone

I'd be up for building a whole new stadium and parking complex, say, around where Towers and the Cross Country course are.

Oh wait, they sold off that dairy farm for apartments, didn't they? Stick in an interchange for State, and that would have been perfect.

Poor planning means poor execution.

You want to see poor planning, go to Iowa City for a game. What a cluster to get in and out of that place and find a place to tail gate. We are way in front of them in our design. Right off of Highway 30 and good parking that can be shared with both Basketball and Football. Lot's of room to expand parking to the East if we wish.

[CyValley]

Originally Posted by Bobber

You want to see poor planning, go to Iowa City for a game. What a cluster to get in and out of that place and find a place to tail gate. We are way in front of them in our design. Right off of Highway 30 and good parking that can be shared with both Basketball and Football. Lot's of room to expand parking to the East if we wish.

I can't recall which one came first, but from my long-ago days as an eiu fan, I know (I'm pretty sure) that Iowa Stadium (as it was named until 1972) and Iowa Fieldhouse were built in 1927 and 1929, respectively.

I've seen aerial photos of the stadium taken during its early years, and it is surrounded by wide-open fields. Amazing how vacant the area was at the time it was built.

And, when built, the automobile and U.S. road system was just beginning to remake American transportation. I'm a rail fan . . . let me see, iirc, the golden age of railroad passenger transportation in this country was the late teens into the 1920s.

I've read stories detailing game-day passenger trains arriving on the siding alongside the stadium, often as many as a half-dozen passenger trains, sometimes more.

When built, the stadium was out there.

Kinda surprising eiu didn't choose to build a new stadium rather than sink nearly $100 million into the current structure. Must have been sound reasons not to, I suppose. But, like an octopus gliding over and engulfing its prey, hard to imagine UI Hospitals, expanding like a cancer, won't one day soon do in the stadium. (Pardon the mixed metaphors.)

Anyway. . . .

[ornryactor]

While the new sign looks nice, I have loved seeing the huge 'Iowa State University' sign ever since my first campus visit. I love seeing it when it's lit up at night after we win a football or basketball game. Yeah, our football stadium is sweet, and so is the guy we named it after, but I like being reminded that it's all part of something bigger. On top of that, I'm a visually-oriented person, and ISU's nameplate is a pretty damn good design; it inspires a feeling of grandeur in people. I hate to take that away. I hope they can at least put it up on the west side or Hilton or something.

[Me State]

A picture of the old sign in case anyone hasn't seen it.

[dunar]

Originally Posted by besserheimerphat

When did you work for Asset Recovery (formerly ISU Surplus)?? I worked for Central Stores, and occasionally with Asset Recovery, from 1999 - 2004. Were you there before or after they moved to the old ice rink? There were some real weirdos that came through on sale days. . .

I was there spring 99-fall 01 - I'm sure we've crossed paths! I spent those 2 1/2 years in the Purchasing Warehouse, left less than a year before they moved. I was in charge of the computer area, back in the cage (w/ Kev, Westy, etc.) I always loved getting out in the truck (the old International) w/ Randy (RIP), breaking all the rules! I don't remember how many times Norm busted us for smoking in the truck...