May 30, 1879: The 1st College Football Game in the Midwest

The 1879 University of Michigan football team

May 30, 1879: For the 1st time, a college football game is played in the Midwest. The game is played at the home field of the Chicago White Stockings of baseball's National League, the team that will one day be known as the Chicago Cubs. The facility was variously known as the Union Base-Ball Grounds, White-Stocking Park, Lake-Shore Park, Lake Front Park, or just Lake Park. Like the later home of the New York Giants, the Polo Grounds, this facility had a shape that made it much better suited to football than to baseball.

The University of Michigan met Racine College, of Wisconsin, and won 1-0, on a place-kick by David DeTarr. In modern terms, it was a field goal. Under today's rules, the score of the game would have been 3-0.

Racine College was run by the Episcopal Church between 1852 and 1933, when it had to close due to the Great Depression. The DeKoven Foundation took over the campus, and has run various events there ever since.

The University of Michigan, of course, went on to become the first true college football power in the Midwest. In 1896, it was a founding member of the Western Conference, along with the Universities of Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; and Northwestern and Purdue Universities. Indiana University and the University of Iowa joined in 1899, and it was renamed the Big Nine Conference. Ohio State University joined in 1912, and it was renamed the Big Ten Conference.

The University of Chicago dropped football after the 1940 season, and the league was again known as the Big Nine. Michigan State University joined in 1950, and it was again the Big 10. Despite new arrivals, the Big 10 name has stuck.

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May 30, 1879 was a Friday. These National League baseball games were played that day:

* The Chicago White Stockings beat the Boston Red Stockings, 8-0 at the original South End Grounds in Boston. These teams are known today as the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.

* The Providence Grays beat the Buffalo Bisons, 4-0 at the Messer Street Grounds in Providence, Rhode Island. The Grays won the NL Pennant in 1879, and did so again in 1884. Yet, after just 1 more season, the Grays went out of business. The Bisons did, too. As it turned out, they played their last game against each other.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Troy Trojans, 4-2 at the Putnam Grounds in Troy, New York, across the Hudson River from the State capital in Albany. Not the same team as the 1st openly professional team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, these Reds were charter members of the NL in 1876, but went out of business after this season. In 1882, the American Association was founded, with a new Cincinnati Reds. That team joined the NL in 1892, after the AA folded, and that is the current team with the name.

The Trojans are often said to have moved in 1883, to become the New York Giants. That's not what happened, although the confusion is understandable: The Trojans folded; the Giants, then known as the New York Gothams, took their place in the NL; and 4 Trojan players joined the Gothams.

* And the Syracuse Stars beat the Cleveland Blues, 4-2 at Newell Park in Syracuse, New York. The Stars folded before the end of the season.