Astrodome

Duane's take

The official marker tells this story, and I'll do my best to tell it right. Now, you want to talk about a building that changed what human beings thought a building could be — well, pull up a chair, because this one starts with a vision and ends with a hundred million people walking through a single door. It started in the mind of one man: Judge Roy Hofheinz.

By 1960, he was already envisioning something the world had never seen — the first air-conditioned, fully enclosed, multi-purpose stadium on the face of the earth. Let that sit with you for a second. Fully enclosed.

Air-conditioned. Multi-purpose. In 1960, when most of America was watching baseball on grass fields open to the Texas sky, this man was drawing something that had no precedent anywhere.

They broke ground on January 3, 1962. Officially named the Harris County Domed Stadium — home of Major League Baseball's Houston Colt .45s — and when they broke that ground, they didn't use shovels. They fired Colt .45 pistols into the soil.

That is how you start something in Texas. The name would change. The Houston-based NASA space program was making history, the Colt .45s became the Houston Astros, and that dome picked up a name that fit the moment like a glove: the Astrodome.

April 9, 1965. The dome opens. President Lyndon B.

Johnson is in attendance. The Houston Astros take on the New York Yankees in an exhibition game that goes twelve innings — twelve — before the Astros come away with a 2-1 win. As openings go, that one had some drama to it.

Now, the building itself. Architectural firms Lloyd and Morgan and Wilson, Morris, Crain and Anderson led the design team. What they produced was called an engineering marvel.

People called it the Eighth Wonder of the World, and when you hear the numbers, you start to understand why. The Astrodome is a domed, circular concrete and steel framed building with a lamella truss roof spanning — clear, unobstructed — six hundred and forty-two feet. The roof is built from wood-fiber-concrete boards, steel framing, and four thousand, five hundred and ninety-six Lucite skylights.

Four thousand five hundred and ninety-six. Someone counted. The original field was natural grass.

That lasted until 1966, when the Astrodome became home to the first synthetic turf field in history — and they called it, naturally, Astroturf. The sky boxes inside were the first-ever stadium luxury suites. Firsts on top of firsts.

And then there's what it was built to take. Sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. Gusts up to 165.

They weren't building for a calm Houston evening. They were building for the worst the Gulf Coast could throw, and the Gulf Coast eventually did throw it — twice. Hurricane Alicia in 1983.

Hurricane Ike in 2008. The Astrodome stood through both. And in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina scattered people across the Gulf South, the Astrodome opened its arms and sheltered about sixteen thousand refugees.

The Eighth Wonder of the World became, for a moment, the most important building in America for reasons nobody who designed it had anticipated. In between all of that, the place was busy. The Houston Oilers and the Houston Cougars played football there.

The Houston Rockets played basketball there. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo came through. Four Muhammad Ali boxing matches were held inside that dome.

In 1968, the University of Houston and UCLA played a basketball game that people called the Game of the Century. In 1973, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs staged the Battle of the Sexes tennis exhibition inside those walls. Notable concerts, political conventions, gatherings of all kinds kept the Astrodome in the national consciousness decade after decade.

From 1965 to 2002, the turnstiles counted more than one hundred million people. One hundred million people. Through one building.

Judge Roy Hofheinz had a vision by 1960. By 2002, a hundred million people had walked through the doors of the thing he imagined. Some buildings just hold games.

This one held history.

What the marker says

Judge Roy Hofheinz envisioned the world's first air-conditioned fully enclosed multi-purpose stadium by 1960. Officially named the Harris County Domed Stadium, ground was broken for the home of Major League Baseball's Houston Colt .45s on January 3, 1962, with Colt .45 pistols fired into the soil. Later named the "Astrodome" for the Houston-based NASA space program and the renamed Houston Astros, the dome opened on April 9, 1965, with a 12-inning, 2-1 Astros exhibition win over the New York Yankees with President Lyndon B. Johnson in attendance. Architectural firms Lloyd & Morgan and Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson led the design team for what was termed an engineering marvel and "The Eighth Wonder of the World." The Astrodome is a domed circular concrete and steel framed building featuring a lamella truss roof, with a clear span of 642 feet. The roof consists of wood-fiber-concrete boards, steel framing, and 4,596 Lucite skylights. The original field was natural grass, replaced in 1966 with the first synthetic turf field, known as "Astroturf." The 'sky boxes' were the first-ever stadium luxury suites. The structure was built to withstand sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts up to 165. It has survived two major hurricanes: Alicia in 1983 and Ike in 2008. In 2005, the dome sheltered about 16,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees. Along with the Astros, the stadium was home to Houston Oilers and Houston Cougars football, Houston Rockets basketball, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Special sporting events included four Muhammad Ali boxing matches, the basketball "Game of the Century" in 1968 between University of Houston and UCLA, and the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis exhibition in 1973. Notable concerts, political conventions and gatherings also kept the Astrodome in the national consciousness. From 1965-2002, Astrodome turnstiles counted more than 100 million people. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2018