Before its conversion to a football stadium, the Thompson Stadium site was an unused area on the south end campus, near the water of Annapolis Harbor. Work on the stadium began in 1914, and was finished later the same year. The seating capacity was 12,000, and it underwent few changes during its entire use. It was surrounded by a regulation quarter-mile (402 m) running track, and only had a single seating section, along the southwest sideline. The field had a northwest-southeast alignment, at an elevation slightly above sea level.