Carroll Field was owned by

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

; the

Baylor Bears football The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I (NCAA)#Football Bowl Subdivision, Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. After 64 seasons at the off-campus Baylor Stadium, renamed F ...

program played games there from 1906 to 1925, and from 1930 to 1935. Following the construction of the Carroll Science Building in 1902, the field was located between the building and Waco Creek; the field took over as the location of football games from an unnamed field adjacent to and northwest of Old Main. Lee Carroll made a donation for the field to be constructed, and his father and grandfather had also donated to build the Carroll Science Building and Carroll Library. From 1926 to 1929, Baylor football games were played at the

Cotton Palace The Cotton Palace was an exhibition ground in the area of Clay Avenue, Dutton Avenue and South Sixteenth Street in Waco, Texas, from 1895 to 1930. It was built to highlight cotton-growing activities in the area. First Cotton Palace The choice t ...

in Waco. During Baylor's first season, they were beat 33–0 by

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

, but the Waco Times-Herald attempted to make the loss positive, saying, "For an eleven many of whose players did not know the shape of the oval until this season, Baylor put up a fair exhibition.” During Thanksgiving Day 1909, Carroll Field was the location of Baylor's first Homecoming football game; the 5,000 attendees to the football game paid

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 each and, at the time, the crowd was known as the largest ever. In the football game, Baylor defeated

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

, who had shut out Baylor in their last two games, 6–3.

Student Union Building

In 1940, groundbreaking began for Baylor University's Student Union Building on the location of Carroll Field, but since 1935, the new Waco Stadium had hosted Baylor football games. The Student Union Building now has the Carroll Field sign proudly displayed on a wall inside.

References

{{Baylor University Defunct college football venues Baylor Bears football venues Sports venues in Waco, Texas American football venues in Texas 1906 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 1906 1940 disestablishments in Texas Sports venues demolished in 1940 Demolished sports venues in Texas