The Astrodome
Symbol of a City
The final vote last week was no big surprise. One of Houston's major icons was quietly dispatched to likely be demolished and razed to the ground. The Harris County Domed Stadium or Astrodome has been a kind of "white elephant" for years and now with the loss of the ballot initiative to, "save the Dome". Local politicians have the political cover they need to finally get rid of what has for many years, has been a representation of how the Bayou City sees it's self.
My memories of the Astrodome come as much from television and Monday Night Football as they do from being there in person. I remember Earl Campbell and Billy "white shoes" Johnson the stars of Bum Phillips's Luv ya Blue Houston Oilers.
By the time I moved to Houston in the early 1990's this amazing building was already beginning to become obsolete.
I remember my first Astro's game here. It was a different kind baseball experience, it was very cool and dry inside this huge space, and I remember the Public address system echoing off the concrete walls. it wasn't an uncomfortable place to see baseball. The seats were padded and comfortable and it was light and airy inside it just had a kind of antiseptic, sterile feel to it. I also remember seeing Phil Collins in concert there later in the 90's , the acoustics were terrible but it was the epitome of the stadium rock experience.
By the mid 1980's, new purpose built stadiums around the country were seen as the way for professional sports franchises to unlock their true earnings potential for their owners. They were suddenly able to use relocating their teams as leverage to guarantee new expensive stadiums built on the public's dime. Both the baseball Astro's and their football counterparts the Oilers were unhappy with the economics of the dome. It was only major league baseball officials that kept the Astros from moving to Washington D. C.
The science museum or any other project now seems to be out of the question. Instead of spending the 230 million to repurpose the famous building we are now looking at a cost of about 100 million to demolish the stadium. The one thing in favor of keeping the building is, it won't be easy to get 100 million to tear the place down. The campaign to save the Dome had it right, the one thing Houston does not need is another parking lot. It seems a shame that Houston's perhaps most iconic landmark may vanish from the city less than 50 years after it opened.
By the late 1990's Oiler's owner, Bud Adam's shipped the Houston team off to Nashville Tennessee. The Astro's stayed in Houston but played their final dome game in 1999. For the past decade the dome has been quiet. The building of Reliant Stadium in 2002 a few hundred yards away served only as reminder of the Domes notoriety and faded glory. Houston it seems, has little interest in looking back at the past.
The Cold War is responsible for helping to birth the "8th wonder of the world". If not for Sputnik the worlds first satellite in the late 50's, Kennedy would not have created and funded NASA and decided to initiate a space race to the moon.
This all put Houston on the national map.
About 20 miles south of the stadium is The Johnson Space center in Clear Lake, it is the center for all manned space flight in the U.S. and by the early sixty's we had the peacetime equivalent of the Manhattan Project in our back yard. This boom of population, money, and prominence led people to believe nothing was impossible.
Houston's very powerful Judge Roy Hoffheinz closely associate with President Johnson ( a previous campaign manager) decided to undertake this project in the early 1960's. The judge almost single-handedly brought his dream of a giant domed stadium to life. He had agreed to build a covered stadium to get an expansion team from professional baseball. the team played 3 years in Houston before moving to it's new home. The Colt 45's became the Houston Astros when they moved into their new building.
The Astrodome has lost money for most of it's existence. Judge Hoffheinz eventually lost the Astro's to creditors and the 90's Dome's renovation project cost 67 million in bond money. This was done to keep the sports teams happy but, in the end they both left the space within a few years. The county will still be paying off this bond debt for another decade.
This all put Houston on the national map.
About 20 miles south of the stadium is The Johnson Space center in Clear Lake, it is the center for all manned space flight in the U.S. and by the early sixty's we had the peacetime equivalent of the Manhattan Project in our back yard. This boom of population, money, and prominence led people to believe nothing was impossible.
Houston's very powerful Judge Roy Hoffheinz closely associate with President Johnson ( a previous campaign manager) decided to undertake this project in the early 1960's. The judge almost single-handedly brought his dream of a giant domed stadium to life. He had agreed to build a covered stadium to get an expansion team from professional baseball. the team played 3 years in Houston before moving to it's new home. The Colt 45's became the Houston Astros when they moved into their new building.
When the 35 million dollar Astrodome opened ahead of schedule in 1965 there was nothing like it in the world. The 50,000 plus seat climate controlled stadium was a unique phenomenon. The Dome is so large when grass was used for the baseball surface it was not uncommon for rain to happen inside the building. To solve this problem a new synthetic material was invented and "AstroTurf" was the result. Like Houston it's self, it all seemed to spring from nowhere to become a symbol modernity and progress. It is also not unlike the space program in seeing how quickly it has been relegated to our past.
In addition to professional baseball and football of all types called the Dome home. as did University of Houston's college basketball teram. The dome has also held its share of big name events from: Mohammad Ali fights to the Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King tennis spectacle to the game of the century UCLA vs U of Houston in college basketball. As music venue it hosted Elvis 7 times, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and U2 among many others who played here.
In addition to professional baseball and football of all types called the Dome home. as did University of Houston's college basketball teram. The dome has also held its share of big name events from: Mohammad Ali fights to the Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King tennis spectacle to the game of the century UCLA vs U of Houston in college basketball. As music venue it hosted Elvis 7 times, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and U2 among many others who played here.
The Astrodome has lost money for most of it's existence. Judge Hoffheinz eventually lost the Astro's to creditors and the 90's Dome's renovation project cost 67 million in bond money. This was done to keep the sports teams happy but, in the end they both left the space within a few years. The county will still be paying off this bond debt for another decade.
The science museum or any other project now seems to be out of the question. Instead of spending the 230 million to repurpose the famous building we are now looking at a cost of about 100 million to demolish the stadium. The one thing in favor of keeping the building is, it won't be easy to get 100 million to tear the place down. The campaign to save the Dome had it right, the one thing Houston does not need is another parking lot. It seems a shame that Houston's perhaps most iconic landmark may vanish from the city less than 50 years after it opened.
