VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

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VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by BrentVU »

https://vucommodores.com/a-farewell-to-parmer/

Some photos from Instagram:



Anyone have any good stories about Parmer Field House?

** Correction, based on the date of the article, it may already have been razed as I write this.


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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Being a 100-year-old structure, I'm surprised there hasn't been more outcry about saving it. But as I understand it, the building is filled with asbestos.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by DS2001 »

It's a relic of an era gone by....When Vanderbilt Stadium was first built, I bet it was, at that time, a state of the art facility. When the stadium was improved in 1981, I'm sure there was probably some discussion about tearing it down back then. It would be appropriate to work the concrete name of the fieldhouse into the masonry of the new facility to honor where where the venerable building once stood. Time and progress march on.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by FayetteDore »

I can't copy and paste from this article because it's copyrighted, but this John Bibb column from 1970 outlines Bill Pace's vision for Parmer Field House at the time the new McGugin Center opened.

And this long 1922 article about the opening of the new VU stadium has a good description of the "most modern and complete" field house in the South, at the bottom of the first column, on the left.

I love skimming through these old Tennesseans, available for free on the State Library & Archives website.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by historybill »

I can't upload it to this site, but I've got a remarkable overhead shot of Dudley Field, taken in the 1920s, and you can see it here:

https://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/histor ... biltphoto/

Click on the link and then click on the photo to make it larger.

I think (not sure) that Palmer Field House is about the only structure in this photo that is still standing.

What the photo shows us is that there were once houses right up against the stadium, in every direction.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by vu2003rpl »

AuricGoldfinger wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:43 am Being a 100-year-old structure, I'm surprised there hasn't been more outcry about saving it.
This is sarcasm, right? This is all of Nashville the last 10+ years.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by vandy05 »

historybill wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:06 pm I can't upload it to this site, but I've got a remarkable overhead shot of Dudley Field, taken in the 1920s, and you can see it here:

https://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/histor ... biltphoto/

Click on the link and then click on the photo to make it larger.

I think (not sure) that Palmer Field House is about the only structure in this photo that is still standing.

What the photo shows us is that there were once houses right up against the stadium, in every direction.
That's a really really cool photo.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

vu2003rpl wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:09 am
AuricGoldfinger wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:43 am Being a 100-year-old structure, I'm surprised there hasn't been more outcry about saving it.
This is sarcasm, right? This is all of Nashville the last 10+ years.
That's my point.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by Vandy84 »

With the demise of Palmer, the SAE house near the upper left hand corner of the photo may be the only structure in the photo that is still standing.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Vandy84 wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:11 pm With the demise of Palmer, the SAE house near the upper left hand corner of the photo may be the only structure in the photo that is still standing.
After witnessing first-hand some of the activities there over the years, that is most shocking.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by DS2001 »

They have a construction fence around Parmer and all the windows are out, so they're working on bringing the old girl down...BTW, I loved that old picture of Dudley back in the 20's...Just think, you could have literally lived across the street from the stadium on what is now Jess Neely and Natchez Trace. That would have been some great tailgaiting spots!
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by Versus75 »

A couple things I noticed about that 1920s photo:

Vanderbilt was already sporting the Black unis.

The ‘Dores were early proponents of the Prevent Defense.

And the crowd was much larger than the crowds of the 2020s.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by vu2003rpl »

AuricGoldfinger wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 3:35 pm
vu2003rpl wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:09 am
AuricGoldfinger wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:43 am Being a 100-year-old structure, I'm surprised there hasn't been more outcry about saving it.
This is sarcasm, right? This is all of Nashville the last 10+ years.
That's my point.
Gotcha 👍🏼

Re: SAE - they don’t build house like The Castle anymore
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by historybill »

There is EXTREME irony in the fact that the SAE house may be the only structure still standing in that photo.

Yes, when you look at some of the old photos of Vanderbilt stadium in the 1920s, you notice that there are a lot of people there. Also, In the silent film created on Vanderbilt's campus in 1925 you can see highlights of a Vanderbilt game, and the fans are packed in.

Also, to state the obvious, other teams' fans couldn't really travel back then because people couldn't afford to travel back then.

So in 1925, when Nashville had a population of about 120,000, which is about one sixth the population of Nashville today, Vanderbilt had far more VANDERBILT fans in the stadium than it does now.

Also, Vanderbilt had a homecoming parade that went from downtown all the way to West End Avenue.

Vanderbilt really WAS "Nashville's team," certainly in sharp contrast to the reality of today.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by nyyankeeDore »

historybill wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:58 pm There is EXTREME irony in the fact that the SAE house may be the only structure still standing in that photo.

Yes, when you look at some of the old photos of Vanderbilt stadium in the 1920s, you notice that there are a lot of people there. Also, In the silent film created on Vanderbilt's campus in 1925 you can see highlights of a Vanderbilt game, and the fans are packed in.

Also, to state the obvious, other teams' fans couldn't really travel back then because people couldn't afford to travel back then.

So in 1925, when Nashville had a population of about 120,000, which is about one sixth the population of Nashville today, Vanderbilt had far more VANDERBILT fans in the stadium than it does now.

Also, Vanderbilt had a homecoming parade that went from downtown all the way to West End Avenue.

Vanderbilt really WAS "Nashville's team," certainly in sharp contrast to the reality of today.

One reason for that is that in the first half of the 20th century (and earlier), a much smaller percentage of the population attended college. UT and other big state schools had far fewer alumni and friends and family members of alumni. Most college sports fans of any college were "sidewalk alumni." So, more people were likely to be fans of the local college team.
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Re: VUCommodores: Parmer Field House about to meet its doom

Post by 3rdFloorDyer »

Versus75 wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:56 pm A couple things I noticed about that 1920s photo:

Vanderbilt was already sporting the Black unis.

The ‘Dores were early proponents of the Prevent Defense.

And the crowd was much larger than the crowds of the 2020s.
And only 4 refs!
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