Houston Field House
multi-purpose arena in Troy, New York, U.S
Houston Field House is a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. Opened in 1949 as the RPI Field House, it is the nation's second-oldest college hockey rink still in use, behind Princeton University's Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. The arena was renamed in honor of former RPI president Livingston W. Houston in 1978. Until the opening of Knickerbocker Arena in Albany in 1990, it was the largest arena in the Capital Region.
Origins
Popular legend holds that Houston Field House was previously an airplane or dirigible hangar for the United States armed forces during World War II. In reality, it originated as a warehouse located at the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center in Rhode Island. Following the war, the federal government established the Veterans Education Facilities Program (VEFP) to help colleges build facilities to handle the increased enrollment of veterans returning from the war. One aspect of the VEFP was to offer buildings designated as "war surplus" to colleges and academic institutions who applied for them.
Originally, the RPI Board of Trustees, led by then-RPI President Dr. Livingston W. Houston, sought a hangar from the VEFP in order to establish a "sports-civic arena" for the RPI campus and the city of Troy. Unfortunately, hangars were not considered "war surplus." An investigation sponsored by the Board of Trustees discovered the warehouse facility in Rhode Island and applied under the VEFP to bring it to campus, despite the fact that its original design was not satisfactory for the creation of an arena.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Houston Field House” is multi-purpose arena in Troy, New York, U.S. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Houston, Field and House, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “multi-purpose arena in Troy, New York, U.S” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5916514. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1978 and 1990.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Houston Field House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Houston Field House primary sources, Houston Field House archive and Houston research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Houston Field House”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Houston Field House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.