Fans help usher in new era for Astrodome
Barbara Hauser, who attended opening day of the Astrodome in 1965, wears her original Spacette usher uniform Monday as she attends “Domecoming,” an event celebrating the landmark’s 53rd anniversary and giving fans an opportunity to explore the Dome before it is remodeled. Story on
Long before he was the Harris County judge, Ed Emmett in 1966 paid a dollar to take a tour of the Astrodome. For an East Texas high school junior who had just pulled into Houston, it was beyond his imagination.
“I looked up at the ceiling just in awe,” Emmett said Monday afternoon as thousands of Houstonians trickled into the Astrodome. That sense of wonder was replayed over and over again on Monday afternoon as thousands walked back into the stadium.
One of the visitors, Sarah Brents, 33, spent an hour near the center of the Dome reminiscing about what she had experienced there.
“Every single one of my childhood memories involved the Astrodome. Astros games, the rodeo, Oilers games,” Brents said. “I even came here after school and did my homework during games.”
Months before the “Eighth Wonder of the World is repurposed, thousands of Houstonians like Brents flocked to the Astrodome to get one last look inside.
The “Domecoming” party coincided with the 53rd anniversary of its opening in 1965, which ushered in a new era for Houston along with the arrival of NASA. The event, co-hosted by the Astrodome Conservancy and Harris County, required reservations for free tickets. Within minutes last month, 25,000 tickets were snatched up by nostalgia-hungry Domers.
A similar party was held in April 2015 to celebrate the
“Every single one of my childhood memories involved the Astrodome.” Sarah Brents, 33
Dome’s 50th anniversary, but this one was a little more special, considering the stadium soon will be the site of a construction zone.
The county is spending $105 million to renovate the stadium, and construction is expected to begin in October and end in 2020. The plan is to turn the stadium into an event space with added parking.
Emmett says the future for the Astrodome remains bright.
“We’ve come up with a plan that will let this nine acres be used and rented,” Emmett said. “I am more about using it than saving it. It’s more than nostalgia. It’s a great opportunity to convert it into a revenue generator for the whole NRG complex.”
Emmett said RodeoHouston, the Offshore Technology Conference, and various car and boat shows are all anxious to use this space. The plan is for it be usable by October 2020. It’s conceivable that Houstonians in western wear could be eating sausages on a stick in here by that following March, away from wet weather.
Mike Acosta, the Houston Astros authentication manager, was on site most of Sunday night bringing in team artifacts for display. That included seats from the Dome, jerseys worn by some of the ball club’s most wellknown players, and a sign touting $3 parking. The last second base and home plate from the last regular season Astros game inside the building were also on display.
Most importantly, the Astros World Series trophy was there, bridging the gap between different Astros eras. Game-worn jerseys from the World Series run stood nearby.
“There were a lot of great players and teams that came through here,” Acosta says. “Some of the greatest Astros memories still reside in this building. Nothing will ever diminish the three and a half decades of effort, blood, sweat and tears that were put in by all those players.”
Bill Wheeler, Harris County’s deputy emergency management coordinator, found himself lost in thought around the left field line. He was there for the very first game, when the hometown team played the New York Yankees, this week in 1965. His uncle was the plumbing foreman for the Dome, so he spent plenty of his teenage years at the facility.
“Today, my heart is jumping all over,” Wheeler said. “This is just an awesome day.”
He said on that first day, the Dome smelled like a freshly cut golf course because natural grass was still being used.
Brents is excited about the next chapter for the Dome. Her shirt, with a stylized Dome on the front and the word “Resist” right underneath, said it all. For a while, the Astrodome’s future was dicey.
“People are seeing the value of this building,” Brents said. “Hopefully, people in our generation will save things and not tear them down.”
Former Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini said Monday it’s still strange to walk into the stadium after all these years.
“It’s like being in a ghost town,” Pastorini said. “I remember coming in here with the rafters packed with people, screaming and yelling and celebrating.”
He’s glad the building will be around for a while more.
“It’s a landmark, and it’s important to the city of Houston and the state of Texas,” he added. “Hopefully I will be around to see it finished.”