That two Ivy League football teams could play to a no-score 0-0 tie is unusual.
Even more unusual was the place where the game was played: the Academy of Music.
The contest between Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania in 1889 might have been the first indoor football contest in America.
Of course, the grand old Academy was built for opera, ballet, concerts and lectures, but some surprising events also took place. There were no more football games but there was a track meet that same year. After the track meet, the audience was treated to a wrestling match and boxing demonstration.
So how can you play a football game or run sprits and jump hurdles in a concert hall?
The answer lies in the main floor called the parquet. Apparently high supports or trestles were placed around the seats and a temporary floor put on top of the supports creating a flat floor level with the stage.
All this effort was not for sports. Many high-society balls were held at the Academy. So the raised floor was for the waltzes and fox trots.
Even more odd than football and track was a fire prevention measure. We quote from John Francis Marion’s book on the Academy:
“When the parquet was floored over, and smoking allowed, the Academy employed a corps of tiny people who scurried around beneath the flooring, picking up matches, cigars and cigarettes that had fallen between the sections of the flooring.”