Mount Carmel’s Riverview Stadium nears 100 years of history and stories

MOUNT CARMEL, Il (WEHT) - Sitting on the banks of the Wabash and White River, Mount Carmel High School's Riverview Stadium has nearly 100 years of Golden Aces history that it can tell different generations of people.

Mike Mandrell is a business teacher and a former freshman football coach. He explained the history of the stadium starts not with football at all.

On September 1, 1926, the Riverview Park Association put in a park, and they were going to make the site very large for automobile racing. However, it didn't last very long. One year to be exact. It was sold to the school district where they traded cars for footballs, and the first game was held in 1927.

However, being near two major rivers created some issues.

"Until 1960, the football field flooded every single year," he said. The Corps of Engineers came, and they put the large levee up on the Illinois side. Before that, when it receded, it left a lot of snakes and a lot of dead fish all over the place. Since then, the snakes have lived up on the bluff, and it's called the Snake Pit."

Mandrell explained some of the upgrades done to the stadium over the years.

"In the 1940s, they put the stage in that had a locker room underneath it, and they used that until the mid 1980s," he said. "Then they built a large concession stand and locker room that they used until three years ago when they built the new facility. We did get new artificial turf in 2023 also and got rid of the old grass. Grass from 1927 to 2022."

Explaining further, he said since the money was available and the new locker room was being built, it was a case of moving on, but a lot of people didn't want to see the traditional grass go.

With a capacity of 2,060 people, that might not seem such a large number to some, but with the seats built into a massive hillside, Mandrell said it comes with its perks.

"I think one of it is because it is on the bluff, and you sit up high. You can see the field so well. There's nothing to block your view," he said.

Mandrell also says the stadium is the only thing in Mount Carmel that has been around for so many lives.

"Everybody has either played here, been a cheerleader, a band person, someone has somebody in their family has been at that stadium. It pulls at our heartstrings," he said.

Mandrell explained with a long winning history of Mount Carmel football, it gives so many something to look forward to every Friday night.

"Since 2027, we won 308 games and lost 128, but since 1957, we've won 76% of our games," he said. "When you win like that, it breeds success, and people love to come and watch the Golden Aces. Those 2,000 seats are filled most nights, and we have very large crowds because it is something to do on a Friday night."

Mandrell explained some future renovations and projects include trying to make the stadium more handicapped friendly.

At the top of the stadium, it is not very handicapped friendly," he admitted. "They're going to build some platforms for people who are not able to navigate the stairs." More specifically, he said about $300,000 will be looking to be spent to make that happen.

Even though Mount Carmel itself only has a population of 7,000 people, Riverview Stadium has always been and will be looking to make more stories for people to share.

"Each one of us can tell a story about where we sat or where we were when they won state in 1981 or when we won the semifinals, coming from behind in 2001. Everybody's got a story, and it's a part of our fabric in the community," Mandrell said.

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