Busch Memorial Stadium

Busch Memorial Stadium opened on May 12, 1966, in St. Louis, Missouri, and operated from 1966 to 2005. The stadium served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League baseball team for its entire operating existence, while also serving as home to the National Football League's Cardinals team from 1966 to 1987. It opened four days after the last baseball game was played in Sportsman's Park (which had also been known since 1953 as Busch Stadium). Similar in style to other multi-purpose sports stadiums built during the same time period, it was sometimes referred to as a "Cookie cutter"-style stadium. The stadium was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel and built by Grün & Bilfinger. Edward Durrell Stone designed the park's most enduring feature, the roof's 96-arch "Crown of Arches." The Crown echoed the Gateway Arch, which was completed only a year before Busch Stadium officially opened. It was one of the first multipurpose facilities built in the United States from the early 1960s through the early 1980s, along with those in Washington, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and some others. The original design of the stadium had called for a baseball-only format, but the design was altered to accommodate football, a fact which arguably shortened its existence. The stadium was demolished by the wrecking ball in late 2005. The Beatles performed at Busch Stadium during their final North American Tour on August 21, 1966.