Ohio Stadium - Welcome to the Horseshoe

Photo: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Ohio State University Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Here it is: the Horseshoe. Architect Howard Dwight Smith, a member of Ohio State's class of 1907, designed this giant U-shaped stadium, and it opened in 1922 with room for about 66,000 fans. The first game, against Ohio Wesleyan, drew about 25,000. Today it holds more than 100,000 people, and its record crowd, 110,045, came to see Michigan in 2016.

You are near the south end, the only side not fully enclosed, which keeps the horseshoe shape. At the far north end, the Rotunda entrance has a domed ceiling modeled on the Pantheon in Rome. The stadium is on the National Register of Historic Places.

On game days, watch for Script Ohio. The marching band first spelled out Ohio in flowing script in 1936, and since 1937 the honor of dotting the i has gone to a sousaphone player, who high-steps to the top of the letter and bows to the crowd.

Getting here: Walk west from Mirror Lake for about 8 minutes, following the campus walkways toward the huge stadium.

Did you know?: Band director Eugene Weigel is said to have based the Script Ohio lettering on the marquee sign of the Loew's Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus.

Photo op: Step back from the south end until the curve of the stands fits in one frame, or walk around to the north side for the Rotunda's arched front.

More on Wikipedia: Ohio Stadium · Script Ohio · Howard Dwight Smith · Ohio State University Marching Band

Ohio Stadium - Welcome to the Horseshoe

Stops on this tour