Steinhauer Fieldhouse

Built in 1937, Steinhauer Fieldhouse is a historic, multipurpose indoor facility that houses track and field events as well as indoor practices for various Colorado School of Mines athletic teams.

During the Great Depression, enrollment declined from 601 in 1932 to 491 in 1934, making it hard for President Melville F. Coolbaugh to spearhead any capital construction projects. However, when the government launched its Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects under the New Deal, putting unemployed Americans to work on public construction jobs, Mines gained two new buildings: Steinhauer Field House and Berthoud Hall.

Plans for the 37,000-square-foot Field House, completed in 1937 and renamed after trustee Frederick Steinhauer in 1949, were drawn up by architect Jules Jacques Benedict, who incorporated elements of the school’s first logo (that he designed) into the terra-cotta castings that flank the windows on either end of the building.

Steinhauer graduated from Mines in 1899 with a metallurgical engineering degree. He served as the Superintendent of Parks for the City of Denver and as a Colorado School of Mines Trustee member until 1915.

Benedict incorporated a bucking burro and other imagery into the terra-cotta castings placed at either end of the building. He was later asked to incorporate these into graphics for the school’s first logo.

To learn more, please visit: http://minesathletics.com/facilities/?id=4

Read more about the history of campus in Mines Magazine, Building History: Campus Structure Reveal MInes’ Past.