Maryland Newsline - Business & Tech - Memorial Stadium Timeline

Year	Event
1922	Municipal Stadium is constructed in seven months. It holds 80,000 people for a 1924 Army-Navy game. The stadium cost: $458,000.
1943	Three groups vie to bring a Major League football team to Baltimore.
July 4, 1944	Oriole Park, home of the minor league Orioles, burns. The team moves to Municipal Stadium.
May 2, 1945	Aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin champions an innovative baseball-football stadium designed by architect E. Russell Marks that would have movable seating and a "light metal roof supported by air pressure."
Nov. 26, 1946	The Baltimore City Council adopts a resolution supporting bond money for the new stadium.
Aug. 8, 1948	Mayor Tommy D'Alessandro presents a model of the new stadium, sans roof. The illness and subsequent death of Baltimore native Babe Ruth leads the park board to name the stadium after him.
September 1948	"Gold Star Mothers of Baltimore" - who had lost sons and daughters in World War II - condemn the park board for not adopting the name "Memorial Stadium."
December 1949	The board resolves to adopt the name "Memorial Stadium." A 116-foot-tall facade will be placed in front of the stadium to honor veterans.
1952	Construction begins on what would become the first in a generation of multipurpose stadiums built around the country. Cost: $6 million.
Sept. 27, 1953	The stadium hosts its first event, as the NFL Colts upset the Chicago Bears, 13-9.
April 15, 1954	Memorial Stadium officially opens. Major League baseball is back in Baltimore for the first time since the 19th century.
May 1954	The "World's Largest Automatic Scoreboard" is installed at a cost of $172,000.
December 1959	The NFL Colts win a second straight world championship, one year after winning the "Greatest Game Ever Played" in overtime against the New York Giants.
October 1966	The Orioles win their first world championship since 1897, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1968	Orioles and Colts owners press for a new stadium.
Jan. 17, 1971	The Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in Super Bowl V.
1972	A domed stadium is proposed for Camden Yards.
October 1983	The Orioles win a third World Series title against the the Philadelphia Phillies.
March 29, 1984	The Colts depart for Indianapolis.
October 1991	The last Orioles game is played at Memorial Stadium. The team moves across town to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
1996-1997	The NFL Ravens (formerly the Cleveland Browns) play at Memorial Stadium. The team moves to PSINet Stadium at Camden Yards for the '98 season.
March 2001	Memorial Stadium demolition begins. The stadium is scheduled to be destroyed by September to make way for Stadium Place, billed as an affordable retirement community.