The Astrodome in Texas

The Houston Astrodome in Texas opened in 1965 and closed for baseball in 1999. It had a seating capacity of 54,370 and was nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” It was built, in part, because of the extreme heat in Houston during the summer months. It was known as a multi-purpose stadium and could facilitate both football and baseball. The Astrodome made it possible for fans to enjoy baseball and football in 72 degree comfort. However, because of the semitransparent plastic panes made of Lucite, there were numerous complaints about the glare that came off the panes. The glare made it very difficult to track fly balls. This was remedied by painting the panes white. This solved the glare problem but it made the grass dry out because there was a lack of sunlight. The solution to this was to plant artificial grass.

Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit the first home run in the Astrodome. This happened in an exhibition game before the 1965 season actually began. The home team of the Astrodome was the Houston Astros, a member of the National League from 1965-1996. In 1996, the Astros left the dome and went to Tennessee because of the dilapidated condition of the Astrodome. Several other places also built enclosed domes. Seattle tried to protect against rainouts and Minneapolis wanted to protect against cold and snow.

In August of 2005, the Astrodome served a new and important use in that it became the temporary home of 20,000 people who left New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina.