Connecting Astrodome

The Connecting Astrodome (before called Houston Astrodome or simply The Astrodome , Harris County Domed Stadium and called Astrodome or Eighth wonder of the world ) is a covered stage with dome, the first stage of the kind in the history, located in the Connecting Park beside the Connecting Stadium to Houston, Texas. It was used for the American football, the Baseball, the Rodeo S and of the Concerts.

Today no team plays in the stage. The Astros of Houston of MLB played in this stage of 1965 until the October 9th 1999. Today, Astros play in new the Minute Maid Park. The Oilers of Houston of NFL evolved/moved with the Astrodome of 1968 with 1997. The frankness moved then in the Tennessee, under the name of Titans of Tennessee. The Houston Gamblers (USFL) there played in 1984 as well as the Houston Energy (WPFL) between 2002 and 2006 which were a team of female American football. Its capacity is of 62.439 in configuration American football, 54.816 places in configuration Baseball and 70.000 for the special Concert S and events. Connecting Astrodome has more than 1860 square meters of space of meeting and 119 continuations ( Sky Boxes ).

History

The Major League Baseball extended to Houston in 1962 with the Houston Colt .45s, which later were famous Astros . The unforeseeable subtropical time of Houston returned the Base-ball in difficult outside for the players and the spectators. Several franknesses from Base-ball thought on the idea to build covered buildings, air-conditioned stages. The former mayor of Houston, Judge Roy Hofheinz, protested the inspiration for what thereafter would become the Astrodome when it was in excursion with Rome, where it learned that the manufacturers of the ancient Colisée had installed a giant velaria to protect from the spectators of the Roman sun.

The first covered stage of the world was conceived by Hofheinz, and was drawn by the architects Hermon Lloyd & W.B. Morgan, and Wislon, Morris, Crain and Anderson. Besides he inherited with the Texas the nickname eighth wonder the world . The structural design was carried out by engineers of Walter P Moore Engineers and Consultants of Houston. It was built by H.A. Lott, Inc. for the County of Harris, Texas and its erection cost $35 million USD. It makes 18 stages top, covering 9 acres and half. The dome has a diameter of 216.4 meters and the ceiling is with 63.4 meters above the surface of play, that itself rests 7.6 meters below the level of the street. Work began the January 3rd 1962. In spite of the innovations made necessary by the innovation of the design, the dome was accomplished in November 1964 is six months advances some on the program. The April 9th 1965, the first match of Baseball was played in the Astrodome, a friendly match between the Yankees and Astros. The stage was officially inaugurated the April 12th 1965 with the name of Harris County Domed Stadium . The stage had seats oranges and reds, 53 " Sky Boxes" (continuations) futuristic, and a display board of $2 million USD diffusing cartoons, and useful informations (scores…) with the spectators.

This " Cookie cutter stadium" (stage multi-surface which can accommodate several sports: Baseball, American football and others) was conceived mainly for football and the baseball, it was almost circular and used mobile lower platforms. Similar systems were employed in several other stages (RFK Stadium, Shea Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, and Three Rivers Stadium).

When the Astrodome was open, it used a natural lawn of fatty Bermuda type like surfaces play. The ceiling of the dome was made many squares out of semi-transparent plastic in Lucite. The players quickly complained that the gleam emerging from the squares made almost impossible to see and catch the balls in flight, thus all the squares were painted, which solved the problem of the gleam but made die the grass because of the lack of sunlight. For the major part of the season 1965, Astros played on a dead grass.

The solution was to install a new type of artificial grass at once, ChemGrass, which became AstroTurf. Since the provisioning of AstroTurf was still low, only one limited quantity was available for the match of opening to residence of the season the April 8th 1966 against the Dodgers of Los Angeles. There was not enough for the whole out-field, but there was to cover the part of the before-field enough. The out-field remained without AstroTurf until after AlStar Break. The team was sent on a journey prolonged before the station-wagon, and the July 19th 1966, the installation of the out-field part in AstroTurf was accomplished and ready for the play.

In 1968, number 1 UCLA Bruins played against number 2 Houston Cougars in front of a crowd of 52.963 spectators - the largest multitude of the history for a match of Basket-ball. Houston has demolishes UCLA 71-69 behind an effort of marking of 39 points by Elvin Hayes. The victory of Houston in this match broke the series of the 47 matches gained by UCLA. Consequently, this particular match was regarded by much as the " Range off the Century" ( match of the century ).

Restorations

The Astrodome was well-known for its large display board like four stages, composed of thousands of bulbs, which composed of animations until its suppression towards the end of the year 1980. This loss was caused by threats of the owner of Oilers Bud Adams which wanted to move its team of American football to Jacksonville, in Florida unless the capacity of the Astrodome is increased. The city yielded to its requests. The Comté of Harris spent $67 million USD of public funds in restorations. The famous display board was removed and roughly 15,000 new seats were installed to bring full capacity to more than 60,000 places. The September 5th 1988, a final celebration took place to commemorate the legendary display board. In autumn 1989, the project of the extension increased the capacity of the stage by prolonging the higher platforms in the out-field, 66 news " Sky Boxes" (continuations) to the Club Level were added and four columns cylindrical were built apart from the dome, placing the pedestrian slopes.

Recent history

The Republican National Convention of 1992 was held with the Astrodome between the August 17th and 20th of this year.

The Astrodome started to show its age in the years 1990. The owner of the Houston Oilers Brian Adams published a new list of requests, this time for a completely new stage, but the town of Houston refused to finance such a company. After years of the threats, Adams moved the team with the Tennessee in 1996. During this time Astros also threatened to leave the city unless a new stage Base-ball either built. Houstoniens approved this time, and Enron Field with retractable roof (now known under the name of Minute Maid Park and “The Juice Box”) was set up in the center of Houston in 2000. Astros played their last match in the dome the October 9th 1999. The company Connecting Energy bought the rights of name of the building in 2000 and it became the Connecting Astrodome .

One of largest the multitude in the history of the Astrodome took place in 1995 when the superstar of the Tejano music, Selena, and its group Los Dinos produced a concert at the time of Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show in a full stage, attracting more than 64.000 spectators. It was also the last concert of Selena, because it was killed the March 31st 1995 by Yolanda Saldívar. The greatest multitude of the Astrodome occurred at the time of the WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001, establishing a new record for the stage with 67.925 spectators.

The Astrodome was joined by a new neighbor in 2002, the Connecting Stadium, which was built to place the new frankness NFL from Houston, the Texans of Houston. Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo moved in the new stage in 2003, leaving the Astrodome without any principal tenant. The last concert produced with the Astrodome was George Strait & the Ace the March 3rd 2002 with an absolute record of multitude of 68,266 spectators. Although a certain number of Houstoniens want that the Astrodome is demolished from here 2009 or 2010 in order to replace it by a large car park for the other structures of the Connecting Park, the municipal council disallowed this proposal for several reasons. They are that the demolition of the dome could harm the dense development which surrounds it today narrowly. (Moreover, being the first covered stage of the world, the defenders of the history can be also opposed to its destruction and make a monument of it, moreover it would not be includes on the National Register off Historic Places while being demolished).

The candidature of Houston to accommodate the Olympic Games of summer of 2012 had proposed to renovate the Astrodome to make a Olympic stadium of it. Houston became one of qualified with the finales of the candidatures of United States Olympic Committee, but the organization chose New York City as a its town of candidate; the plays were finally allotted to London by the International Olympic committee.

The Astrodome was classified 134e in the " America' S Favorite Architecture" American Institute off Architects, it is classified in the 150 principal architectural projects preferred in America in 2007.

Hurricane Katrina

The August 31st 2005, following the Hurricane Katrina, the Harris County Department off Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the state of the Louisiana managed an agreement to make it possible at least 25,000 evacuees of La Nouvelle-Orléans, particularly those which were sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome, to move with the Astrodome until they could turn over to their house. The evacuation began on September 1st. All the events programmed for the last four months of 2005 to the Astrodome were countermanded. However, thereafter the leaders declared that Connecting it Astrodome was full with 13.000 people and could not accept the additional evacuees of the disaster. The additional evacuees were divided in all the complex of the Connecting Park of which the Connecting Arena including/understanding 3.000 evacuees and 8.000 to the Connecting Center.

The whole complex of the Connecting Park was programmed to be emptied of its evacuees the September 17th 2005. The Astrodome does not have any other current use, except a handle of conferences, and in the beginning it was expected that the stage was to shelter evacuees until December. However, the surrounding carparks were necessary for the first home match of the Texans of Houston. Arrangements were made to help the evacuees to find residences with Houston and elsewhere in the country. For the September 16th 2005, the remainder of the evacuees living in the Astrodome had been moved in Connecting close Arena or with a permanent housing. The September 20th 2005, the remaining evacuees were replaced in Arkansas because of the Ouragan Rita.

Events

Gallery

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