08/26/2026
Where History Was Made: Green Bay’s Original City Stadium
Historic Plaza at Original City Stadium in Green Bay will be opened for visitors on Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5.
Outside of East High School in Green Bay, Wis., sits the site of the original City Stadium, where Curly Lambeau and his Green Bay Packers played from 1925-56, winning NFL championships six times during that span. (In 1957, “new” City Stadium, now Lambeau Field, was built on Green Bay’s west side.)
The site is still used today as East High's modern stadium, but at the entrance is a beautifully-built plaza honoring the history and telling the story of how Lambeau founded the team and the townspeople helped keep it alive. It’s been called “the greatest story in sports.”
The Knute Rockne Memorial Society, through a special arrangement with East High, is pleased to announce that the plaza will be open to the public during the Notre Dame-Wisconsin weekend.
Fans can visit on Friday, Sept. 4, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. (before the stadium hosts the 121st version of the East High vs. West High rivalry, one of the oldest in the nation) and again on Saturday, Sept. 5, from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., prior to the start of the Rockne Awards at nearby Riverside Ballroom.
Notre Dame fans will be particularly interested in visiting. At one end of the plaza is what’s been called “Irish Corner.” It consists of four monuments to East High alums who all went on to Notre Dame, then to fame in the world of sports:
--Earl “Curly” Lambeau, who played for Knute Rockne in 1918, then returned to Green Bay and helped found the Packers the next year. He coached the team for three decades;
--“Sleepy Jim” Crowley, who went to Notre Dame and fame as one of the Four Horsemen backfield, winning a national title in 1924, and later coaching Vince Lombardi at Fordham;
--Tom “Red” Hearden, star back and captain of the 1926 Fighting Irish and later a successful coach at East High, St. Norbert College and as an assistant with the Green Bay Packers;
--Walter “Red” Smith, who was drawn to Notre Dame for journalism, and became one of the most celebrated sports writers of the 20th century, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
Thanks to Steph Mathu, activities director at East High, for facilitating this special opportunity.
Go Red Devils! Go Irish!
