About Northwestern Field
Northwestern Field was a College Football stadium in Evanston, Illinois. It opened in 1905 and closed in 1925. Its last recorded capacity was 10,000. Its only tenant was Northwestern Wildcats (College Football, 1905–1925). On our ranked lists it ranks 62nd shortest-lived of 273 stadiums and arenas with known opening and closing years.
Appears in
Venue Information
Year Opened
Year Closed
Location
Elevation
184 m above sea level
Location derived from the venue's coordinates using data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Elevation of the venue's coordinates from USGS and NASA SRTM elevation data, via Open Topo Data.
The site today
- Ryan Field (opened 2026) now stands on or beside the site.
Later venues are matched by the recorded coordinates in our own venue records.
Teams
| Team | League | Years |
|---|---|---|
|
Northwestern Wildcats While based here: 19 seasons · 53-70-6 regular season · no postseason trips (postseason results on record for 11 of 19 seasons)
College Football · 1905–1925
Big Ten Conference 1905–1925 · Major College
|
College Football | 1905–1925 |
Records are each team's full-season results while it was based here, home and away games alike, from final scores. They are not records of games played at this venue.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the capacity of Northwestern Field?
The capacity of Northwestern Field is 10,000.
When was Northwestern Field built?
Northwestern Field opened in 1905.
What is on the site of Northwestern Field today?
Ryan Field (opened 2026) now stands on or beside the site.
Where did the Northwestern Wildcats play after Northwestern Field?
After leaving Northwestern Field in 1925, the Northwestern Wildcats moved to Ryan Field in 1926. They played there until 2023.
Sources
Where the facts on this page were read from. How VenueStats compiles them.
- Open Topo Data (Public domain): Elevation.
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim (ODbL): Location.
- VenueStats: What stands on the site today.
- VenueStats compilation: Opening and closing years, name history and teams (compiled by VenueStats from Sports Reference and Wikipedia).
- Wikidata (CC0): Capacity, Coordinates (Wikidata places the building within 0 m of this point).
- Wikimedia Commons (Public domain): Photograph.
Location
Nearby Venues
| Venue | Years | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan Field | 2026– | Same site |
| Ryan Field | 1926–2023 | Same site |
| Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium | 1997– | 1.3 mi |
| Wrigley Field | 1914– | 8.3 mi |
| Allstate Arena | 1980– | 11 mi |
| Chicago Stadium | 1929–1994 | 13 mi |
Straight-line distance between the venues' coordinates.
References
Teams on Wikipedia
Every source for the facts on this page is listed under Sources.