1914 was a momentous year for Ivy League football stadiums. Both the Yale Bowl and Palmer Memorial Stadium opened shortly after the First World War began.

Yale issued a special 18 page program (pictured above) to commemorate the occasion. This program features full page color illustrations of the Yale Bowl before, during and after its construction. At the time of its completion the Yale Bowl was the largest stadium in the world. The program describes how the amphitheatre environment was created, essentially by taking the earth that was excavated from the center of the field which was then used to build the embankment the stadium sits on.

Princeton’s Palmer Memorial Stadium was dedicated on November 14, 1914, one week before the Yale Bowl. Their dedication program is 60 pages and features real black and white photographs of prior games and of the stadium under construction. Both programs feature a two-page panoramic view of their completed stadiums. The stadium cost $300,000 and was donated to Princeton by Edgar Palmer, class of 1903, who dedicated the structure to the memory of his father, Stephen S. Palmer.