Orr Ditch, Mackay Athletic Field and Training Quarters construction, ca. 1909

The Mackay Athletic Field and Training Quarters are photographed during construction with a completed bridge over the Orr ditch in the foreground. The Orr Ditch still exists today around the campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods. Originally it was an irrigation ditch for Evans Ranch which occupied the land where the campus is located today, prior to the university purchase of the area in 1884. Funded by Clarence Mackay, the Mackay Athletic Field and Training Quarters were opened in 1909/1910, complete with concrete benches and a sheltering structure to the west. The field was located north of the Mackay School of Mines where the Lower Quad and Mack Social Science, Lecture, Physics, and Chemistry Buildings are located today. When the field was converted into the historic Mackay Stadium in 1940, the two-story brick building known as the Training Quarters remained until all was demolished in 1965 to make way for new buildings.