OT: Historic Location of Cartier Field

by NDinVA , Yorktown, VA, Tuesday, March 02, 2010, 20:12 (5942 days ago)

As some of you may remember, for some reason, about a year ago I became obsessed with trying to figure out exactly where on the Notre Dame campus the original Cartier Field was located. Supposedly, it was located on the site of the present grassy mall between the current Notre Dame Stadium and Touchdown Jesus.

However some other reports located it as being behind the Old Fieldhouse or behind the present O'Shaughnessy Hall (sp?). Looking at some old photos, I came to the conclusion that it was located north of the current stadium, but didn't run true North and South between the Stadium and the Library, but instead ran off at an angle from the North End of the Stadium toward the northwest. However, I was unable to find a photo definitively proving this.

Finally, inside the cover of the new book "Loyal Sons", there is the picture I've been searching for, which I've copied below, showing Cartier running off at an angle toward the center of the campus. So a ND player running back a kick off from the south end zone would have been running toward the Golden Dome instead of toward Touchdown Jesus.

In the second photo, you can make out the outline of the original Cartier Field just above the construction site of ND Stadium.

Probably not a big deal to most of you, but for me this was like finding the Rosetta Stone.

I know, I'm strange.

Aerival View of Notre Dame with Cartier Field in Foreground circa 1924

Aerial View of Notre Dame with Stadium Under Construction in 1930