The community of Hoquiam has always been very showy of their heritage and rightly so because the people have always thought of themselves as hard working people who try their very best in almost everything they do and this has been true for almost all of their generations that call the Grays Harbor area at heir home. A part of this great heritage is the Olympic Stadium, no other place or building in all of Hoquiam can lay claim to what it stands for and what it stood for in all its years and that is it is for everyone and anyone who wish to stand for something together or make a stand in what they believe is the better in the contest of life, just like the games that are played within the stadium walls hundreds of times over.
The stadium opened its shingled external walls in 1938. The all-wood stadium seemed to be a daunting task if it was done by others but for this city that wood built from the ground up there was really no other building material that will share and display to the nation and to the world their abundance and mastery of lumber. It has been and still is a logging town, established in the 1850's the term "Hoquiam" translates from Native American tongue as "hungry for wood" for the towns namesake the river Hoquiam had this natural propensity to gather driftwood.
The plans for the stadium was laid out in the most at the start of the 1930's and the City went ahead with this and requested for a civil works administration grant for their dream stadium. A stadium that would attest to the nation and the world that despite all odds the people of this city will persevere, the grant was approved in 1932, but the building did not start until 6 years later and within the year groundbreaking started in early 1938 there was no stopping this monumental task, within a year of starting construction the Olympic Stadium was completed.
The stadium officially opened for use by the public on November 24, 1938 with the construction itself not taking more than a year from start to finish and this is their take on things much like how the lumber industry takes time to let trees grow for decades, to agree that everything is right or satisfactory and when the time has come it takes but a moment to finish what took decades or even more than a century to nurture and give life to, such are the circumstances there, the patience and understanding of a tree farmer that completes his task as a lumberjack with a razor sharp axe.
In 2005, again after much time has passed a local man, Congressman Norm Dicks prodded by his community constituents was able to secure through request a renovation grant that was awarded through the "Save America's Treasures" program. The good Congressman also supported the State Historic Preservation Office request to recognize the stadium as a National Registry of Historical Places grantee, which the old stadium got in 2006.
The Olympic stadium was built to last more than a hundred years and it is just a few decades shy of that milestone. The residents who administered the construction knew their business and their business was wood and the all-wood stadium got the strongest and best of what the lumberjacks can take from nature. The lumber used was from ancient fir heavy-timber and the shingles that protected the outside walls were taken from cedar trees. The seats also made of wood are a testament to the quality of the lumber used for they are in remarkable shape.
The Olympic stadium is presently home to the semi-professional football team the Grays Harbor Bearcats. In the 1990's the historic stadium was the base of operations for the now defunct Grays Harbor Gulls of the independent Western baseball League. This is testament to the resilience of the stadium and its continued contribution to the prestige and honor of the town and its people.
The stadium can hold ten thousand fans within its stands and it host a lot of games in from both professional and local amateur teams, the town evidently loves sports and this shows with the number of teams it plays in as many events. Aside from the semi-pro Bearcats football team, there's the city High School football team, Youth Baseball team, the Youth football and many more. It also serves the City of Hoquiam as its community center for bigger annual events.
The stadium opened its shingled external walls in 1938. The all-wood stadium seemed to be a daunting task if it was done by others but for this city that wood built from the ground up there was really no other building material that will share and display to the nation and to the world their abundance and mastery of lumber. It has been and still is a logging town, established in the 1850's the term "Hoquiam" translates from Native American tongue as "hungry for wood" for the towns namesake the river Hoquiam had this natural propensity to gather driftwood.
The plans for the stadium was laid out in the most at the start of the 1930's and the City went ahead with this and requested for a civil works administration grant for their dream stadium. A stadium that would attest to the nation and the world that despite all odds the people of this city will persevere, the grant was approved in 1932, but the building did not start until 6 years later and within the year groundbreaking started in early 1938 there was no stopping this monumental task, within a year of starting construction the Olympic Stadium was completed.
The stadium officially opened for use by the public on November 24, 1938 with the construction itself not taking more than a year from start to finish and this is their take on things much like how the lumber industry takes time to let trees grow for decades, to agree that everything is right or satisfactory and when the time has come it takes but a moment to finish what took decades or even more than a century to nurture and give life to, such are the circumstances there, the patience and understanding of a tree farmer that completes his task as a lumberjack with a razor sharp axe.
In 2005, again after much time has passed a local man, Congressman Norm Dicks prodded by his community constituents was able to secure through request a renovation grant that was awarded through the "Save America's Treasures" program. The good Congressman also supported the State Historic Preservation Office request to recognize the stadium as a National Registry of Historical Places grantee, which the old stadium got in 2006.
The Olympic stadium was built to last more than a hundred years and it is just a few decades shy of that milestone. The residents who administered the construction knew their business and their business was wood and the all-wood stadium got the strongest and best of what the lumberjacks can take from nature. The lumber used was from ancient fir heavy-timber and the shingles that protected the outside walls were taken from cedar trees. The seats also made of wood are a testament to the quality of the lumber used for they are in remarkable shape.
The Olympic stadium is presently home to the semi-professional football team the Grays Harbor Bearcats. In the 1990's the historic stadium was the base of operations for the now defunct Grays Harbor Gulls of the independent Western baseball League. This is testament to the resilience of the stadium and its continued contribution to the prestige and honor of the town and its people.
The stadium can hold ten thousand fans within its stands and it host a lot of games in from both professional and local amateur teams, the town evidently loves sports and this shows with the number of teams it plays in as many events. Aside from the semi-pro Bearcats football team, there's the city High School football team, Youth Baseball team, the Youth football and many more. It also serves the City of Hoquiam as its community center for bigger annual events.
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