Construction started in 1949, on the sight of the former Baltimore (Municipal) Stadium, and was eventually completed during the 1954 Major League Baseball season. There were two incarnations of Memorial Stadium. The first one, built in 1949/50, consisted of only a lower seating bowl. Instead of the Memorial Wall facing 33rd Street, it still had the remnants of the old administration building from
Baltimore's Municipal Stadium—a fabulous looking classical structure complete with sixteen full length columns. The second incarnation, the one that most Baltimoreans remember and are familiar with, was a two deck structure (they just built an upper seating bowl on top of the 1949 structure) that was completed throughout the 1953/54 football and baseball seasons. Although it experienced many cosmetic renovations over the course of its life, this second incarnation went virtually unchanged until the stadium was (sadly) demolished over a long and drawn out preservation battle during the 2001/02 legal year. Astoundingly, little to no trace at all of its existence remains—all that is left are the memories and photographs that we hold so dear. "TIME WILL NOT DIM THE GLORY OF THEIR DEEDS"
