EAST LANSING — Today, in front of a private group of donors and media, Michigan State University will unveil its $24.5 million north end zone addition to Spartan Stadium.

The project includes a two-level, 55,000-square-feet addition, a recruiting facility available to all sports on the concourse level, a new media center, new locker rooms, new restrooms, concessions and a donor plaza.

But this project is about more than bricks and mortar. With the addition of the recruiting facility and the locker rooms, Michigan State football is no longer playing the catch-up game that defined so many expansions of the past.

From its humble beginnings on the corner of Shaw Lane and Red Cedar Road in 1923 to its jumbotron-laced current state in 2014, here's a look at the evolution of Spartan Stadium as told through rare historical photos.

Michigan Agricultural College Stadium, sometimes referred to as "College Field," was funded by a special act of the Michigan legislature and could hold roughly 14,000 people. (Courtesy of MSU athletics).

1924: No longer on foreign fields

• Cost in 1924:

$160,000

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$2.23 million

• Capacity:

14,000

Michigan Agricultural College had been playing the game of football since 1896, but it wasn't until 1923 -- when Ralph Young became coach and athletic director -- that things really started to evolve.

A $160,000 special act of the Michigan legislature allowed the college to construct Michigan Agricultural College Stadium (M.A.C. Stadium) on Shaw Lane, where it still plays today.

There were permanent east and west stands, each with six sections of reinforced concrete, that held roughly 14,000 people. A 15-square-foot scoreboard stood behind temporary bleaches on the south end.

But the pride and joy of M.A.C. Stadium was evident in the dedication game held on Oct.11, 1924. While the Aggies had hosted the likes of Albion, Alma and even Notre Dame, M.A.C. had not been able to woo their own state's marquee program, the University of Michigan, to play in East Lansing. Until Oct.11, 1924, all games against the Wolverines had been in Ann Arbor.

The dedication event was the hot ticket for Michiganders all around the state. The governor (Alex Groesbeck) and the presidents of both M.A.C. and U-M made speeches and spoke of the benefit to the state of Michigan to be able to host such an event.

M.A.C president Kenyon L. Butterfield hailed it as the day the farmers from East Lansing were "no longer on foreign fields." The Aggies lost, 7-0.

It was a big day for the state of Michigan, but it also was symbolic of what nearby entity motivated stadium changes for the next 90 years. As if plucked from the 1924 script, current Michigan State University athletic director Mark Hollis said this last week in anticipation of the north end zone unveiling:

“(U-M athletic director) Dave Brandon never liked the visiting locker room since he’s been around. Fortunately when they come back here in back-to-back years and get to visit East Lansing once again, they’ll have a new locker room.”

Macklin Field's expansion in 1936 was a Works Progress Administration project, an agency of the New Deal that employed millions of unemployed people to carry out public works projects. This photo shows WPA workers in the southeast corner excavation of the cinder track, which was then transferred to its current location outside the southwest corner of the stadium. (Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections).

1936: Quickly outgrown

• Cost in 1936:

$240,000

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$2.11 million

• Capacity:

26,000

By 1935, Michigan State College had outgrown its 14,000 M.A.C Stadium capacity.

MSC expanded its stadium capacity via a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project. WPA projects, set up by the New Deal agency employed millions of unemployed workers for public works projects.

This job involved increasing the stadium capacity to 26,000 -- 19,000 permanent seats and roughly 7,000 in bleachers. Concrete seats were added to both the north and south ends and the field was lowered six feet to make room below the east and west stands for more seats.

The cinder track that encircled the original field was excavated and moved to its current location adjacent to the southwest corner of the stadium.

The name of the stadium was officially changed to Macklin Field, the namesake being John Macklin. Macklin was the huge 6-5, 250-pound football coach who got M.A.C. its first wins over Ohio State and Michigan. From 1911-1915, he went 29-5, still the highest winning percentage (.853) of any coach in Michigan State history.

Michigan State College head football coach Clarence "Biggie" Munn points out the additions to his new "concrete and steel bowl." The new stadium, would now hold 50,011, allowing Michigan State College to resume a home-and-home series with Notre Dame. (Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections)

1948: The rise of the concrete and steel bowl

• Cost in 1948:

$500,000

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$4.94 million

• Capacity:

50,011

By the time 1946 rolled around, Michigan State College's student enrollment had ballooned to almost 16,000. Again, Michigan State had outgrown its own stadium and was in danger of losing home-and-home series with the bigger programs whose fan bases feared they would not be able to attend games in East Lansing.

Simultaneously with then-MSC president John Hannah's announcement that Macklin Field would be enlarged to a capacity of 50,000 was the announcement that MSC would once again take part in a home-and-home series with Notre Dame. Notre Dame hadn't been to East Lansing since 1921.

Clarence "Biggie" Munn's first season as head coach was in 1947, one season before the new stadium -- to be called Macklin Stadium instead of Macklin Field -- was finished.

They added 20 rows of reinforced concrete to the lower bowl and a concourse was built. It gave MSC the fifth-largest stadium in the conference. The original design was supposed to include a 900 student dorm for men connected to the stadium, a plan that never came to fruition.

This Macklin Stadium expansion was the final expansion to come with a special dedication game and was attended by Macklin himself, who was nearing 70 at the time. After losing to the University of Michigan 13-7 in front of 51,526 on Sept.25, 1948, Michigan State discontinued the tradition. The Aggies had lost to U-M in 1924's dedication game and had lost to Marquette 13-7 in 1935.

Michigan State University turned Macklin Stadium into a double decker in 1956, bringing its capacity to 76,000. From this point on it would be known as Spartan Stadium. (Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections)

1957: Double decker

• Cost in 1956:

$1.5 million

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$13.14 million

• Capacity:

76,000

More than 30 years later and Michigan State -- officially Michigan State University at this point -- was having the same problem: The Michigan game.

Associated Press writer Robert E. Vogues wrote about Macklin Stadium's 1950s' limits this way in a 1953 article from the Lansing State Journal:

"The assurance of another sellout for the Michigan-Michigan State football game Saturday points up a problem worrying Spartan athletic officials. Student enrollment at both schools is booming beyond all expectations. So what is Michigan State going to do for stadium seats the next time Michigan plays at East Lansing? The game between the two bitter rivals has been a sellout every year since 1947.

"The stadium expansion should become a reality in a few years. Otherwise, public pressure from those disgruntled because they can't get seats is going to force all future Michigan-Michigan State games to be played in Ann Arbor."

At the time, Michigan State had the fourth-largest undergraduate student body in the Big Ten but the next-to-smallest stadium at roughly 52,000.

The plan was approved by the state board of agriculture to upgrade the seating capacity to somewhere near 75,000. The university did this by adding upper decks to both the east and west sides of the stadium. A three-level press box, the only one of its type, was tucked between the lower and upper decks.

Macklin Stadium became forever known as Spartan Stadium at this point. The stadium, with a top deck 10 stories high, became the third largest in the Western Conference behind Ohio State (78,951) and Michigan (101,000).

The public pressure that Vogues had predicted had won out.

1994: Capacity no longer the issue

• Cost in 1994:

$6.6 million

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$10.61 million

• Capacity:

72,027

Up until this point, every major project involving the football stadium had to do with expansion. That was not the case in 1994, when Spartan Stadium experienced its first "gameday experience" renovation.

Michigan State -- which still had the 76,000 capacity that the upper decks had given it and the Astroturf that it had installed in 1973 for $170,000 -- decided to improve fan comfort and sight lines.

Renovations to improve the sight lines, field security, handicap access and club seats actually reduced Spartan Stadium's capacity to 72,027.

Between this major stadium change and the next one in 2005, Michigan State installed a Mitsubishi Diamond Vision scoreboard (1998) and replaced the artificial turf with real grass from its own Hancock Turfgrass Research Center at the cost of $2 million (2002).

Spartan Stadium as it looked in 2013, showing the 2005 press box and luxury suites addition as well as 2012's video board upgrade on both the south and north ends of the stadium.

2005: College football gets expensive

• Cost in 2005:

$61 million

• Cost in 2014 dollars:

$74.42 million

• Capacity:

75,005

While attracting opponents was the name of the game through the 1950s, attracting donors and showing off facilities to recruits became the theme of 2000s.

In 2005, Michigan State dropped $61 million on an upgrade to Spartan Stadium -- its most expensive stadium upgrade even after adjusting for the rate of inflation.

The expansion brought the capacity back up to roughly 75,000 (the same capacity as it has today), but made the stadium a whole lot fancier. The 2005 upgrade included 24 luxury suites, 838 club seats, a giant new press box and new offices for University Development (fundraising) and the MSU Alumni Association.

The press box and offices were built atop the upper deck on the west side of the stadium, eliminating the "tucked" press box that was originally built between the lower and upper decks.

Michigan State will unveil its $24.5 million north end zone expansion Monday, Aug.25. The facility will have a 4,500 square foot home locker room that will be named for Rachel Adams, the mother of former Spartan Flozell Adams, who gave $1.5 million to the project. (Courtesy of MSU Athletics)

2014: A new day

• Cost:

$24.5 million

• Capacity:

75,005

The current upgrade to Spartan Stadium would have John Macklin blown away as he walked from his home in Lansing to the campus on Saturday for games.

His old Macklin Field is now the tallest building in East Lansing and the addition no longer required a special act of the state legislature to add seats.

Later Monday, Michigan State will unveil a $24.5 million addition that puts it on par with the big boys of college football, with a 4,500 square foot home locker room that will be named for Rachel Adams, the mother of former Spartan Flozell Adams, who gave $1.5 million to the project.

Donors will tour a 4,000-square-foot recruiting lounge that can fit up to 200 people with a large glass window looking north from the stadium. They'll stop by the training room, with on-site X-ray capabilities. They'll stroll the new concourse, listen to speeches in the new media center and wander by the first-ever donor's plaza inside.

No one will be wondering if Michigan or Notre Dame will be willing to play there.

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