World War I Memorial Stadium

World War I Memorial Stadium is a football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, featuring concrete grandstands on the east and west sides with total seating for 17,500 spectators. The facility includes garden areas within the seating bowl and now serves mainly for marching band practice and club sports like lacrosse and rugby on its FieldTurf playing surface.

The stadium opened in 1922 to honor Kansas State students who died during World War I. It served as the home field for Kansas State Wildcats football until 1967 and was originally built in a horseshoe shape.

The stadium houses cultural spaces today, including the Purple Masque Theater on the west side and the Berney Family Welcome Center on the east side, showing how it evolved from a sports venue into an educational and cultural hub.

The facility is conveniently located on the Kansas State University campus in central Manhattan and is relatively easy to access. Visitors should know the stadium is no longer an active competition venue and many areas are reserved for practice and club activities.

The stadium kept its original horseshoe shape incomplete until 2002, when the K-State Alumni Association Alumni Center was finally constructed to complete it. This long gap between the initial design and final completion reveals how the place evolved gradually across many decades.

Location: Kansas

Inception: 1922

Official opening: 1922

Capacity: 17500

GPS coordinates: 39.18750,-96.58433

Latest update: December 11, 2025 11:03