Image 1: Postcard of Ely Stadium 1927

Image 2: Ely Stadium during construction

Image 3: Ely Stadium 2010

Image 4: Cheerleaders - 1st Football game Oct 8, 1928

Video: last football game 2017

Ely Stadium once was billed as one of the finest football fields in the country.

The concrete mammoth that holds court on several acres of land on Elyria’s south side — on land donated by Mr. William Ely, grandson of Elyria’s founding father Heman Ely — was constructed the same year the first feature film with sound, known then as a talkie, was released. Mr. William Ely also donated $35,000 for the erection of the stadium. It is a beautiful concrete structure seating more then 3,000 persons.

Yet its historic run is coming to an end soon as Elyria Schools undertakes a community-supported plan to rebuild the stadium into a multimillion-dollar sports complex.