Old photo of campus and baseball field - photo uploaded

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RobertM320
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Just a note up front: I can't post the image yet, until I get approval from the owner, but I've been doing some negative scanning for one of the professors at the Architecture school. I came across this old aerial photo of campus that I think is from the late 1940's, or maybe even a bit older. A couple of things that caught my eye immediately: 1) there were barracks like buildings on the area where Turchin and the Rosen parking lot are now, and 2) the baseball field is right where Drill Road intersects McAlister. Its almost right next to McAlister Auditorium. Then, from McAlister Auditorium to Freret, where the Monroe Quad and Monroe hall are, there's a bunch more of the barracks buildings.

I never knew the baseball field was there. I've always remembered it as being between old Tulane Stadium and Claiborne. Does anyone know when they moved it?


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"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
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RobertM320
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OK, photos up.
"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
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Fascinating picture--thanks Robert. I never knew the baseball field was right in the middle of campus. Look at all the open space--I wonder what the enrollment was back then.
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RobertM320
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Sure makes you realize just how big Tulane Stadium was for just a tiny little private school! It does look like there's a diamond where Butler dorm is now, and one in the area where the current baseball stadium is but those just look like diamonds for kids to use. The other one has the dirt infield and a small set of stands. Like I said, I think this was late 40's. If anyone has better info, please share.
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Wow, aside from the Stadium, the campus looks like a military installation. The Baseball field is where a Bruff, Irby and Phelps are located now.
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Are those tennis courts next to Devlin on the site where the UC is now?

I agree. So much open space.
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RobertM320
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Bham Wave wrote:Are those tennis courts next to Devlin on the site where the UC is now?

I agree. So much open space.
Yes, those are tennis courts, with a set of stands on the Jones Hall side of the courts. Also, another set of 3 courts over on Willow St, between Broadway and Tulane Stadium.

You know what's funny? Those baseball field bleachers next to McAlister Auditorium probably seated more back then than UConn's field does today!
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RobertM320
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JerseyWave wrote:Wow, aside from the Stadium, the campus looks like a military installation. The Baseball field is where a Bruff, Irby and Phelps are located now.
That's kind of why I think it might be late 40's. After WWII, GI Bill, lots of veterans would have gone back to school.
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RobertM320
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As to enrollment. This is an excerpt from A Hullabaloo editorial dated Jan 5, 1950. I found it in a digital copy of the 1950 Jambalaya online. This also dates the photo to pre 1950, as there is no centrally located Student Union.

January 5 . . . Tulane needs a centrally located Student Union Building. The
present Student Center has neither adequate space nor enough equipment to provide for the needs of a student population in excess of 6,500


Just an aside, I found this from the same page of the Jambalaya. This was an excerpt from another Hullabaloo editorial, dated Dec 1, 1949. Looks like student apathy has been problematic for a long time. And the 1949 football season was part of a great string of winning seasons. So I wonder why the apathy back then?

December 1 . . . This week, the aftermath of the LSU game, it became increasingly plain that there exists on
the Tulane campus a relative lack of school spirit . . . we face a great challenge: every student, fiom the hoariest
upperclassman to the freshman wettest behind the ears, must take part in a rebirth of ardor, or else Tulane
spirit will inevitably die a slow death.
"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
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RobertM320
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Richard Campanella posted this on Twitter this morning. Thought people might like to see them. I'm not sure if the last photo is the 1950's or not. Does anyone know for sure when we moved the baseball field from the quad area (in the 1940s) to the area on the S. Claiborne side of Tulane Stadium? I notice in the photo Butler dorm is already built. It seemed pretty new when I got there in the mid-1970s.

Also, in the second photo, from overhead, you can see Loyola's baseball field. Its where their football field originally was.
https://twitter.com/nolacampanella/stat ... 9810264064
"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
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