Remember the Astrodome - Houston Texas USA

The Holiday Inn Reliant Park Medical Center Area Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn Astrodome Hotel) is adjacent to the sprawling complex of Reliant Park that contains both Reliant Stadium and the famous ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’, the Houston Astrodome. The retractable-roof stadium of Reliant replaced the once renowned Houston Astrodome just across from the Holiday Inn Astrodome Hotel in 2002. We invite you to Remember the Astrodome with us.

Billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World by Astros’ original owner, Judge Roy Hofheinz, the Astrodome was the first ballpark to have a roof over the playing field. It also boasted cushioned orange and red seats, 53 futuristic "Sky Boxes," and a $2-million scoreboard featuring home run extravaganzas, cartoons, and helpful instructions to fans. In 1966, the building became famous for the installation of Astroturf – the world’s first artificial turf to be sued in professional baseball. The Astrodome was also the first stadium in the country to use separate Astroturfs for baseball and football, each housed in a storage pit in center field.

An 18-story building would fit inside its 710-foot diameter, its 9½ acres of real estate, and its steel-beamed ceiling that rises 208 feet above the baseball diamond. To light up the field required more electricity than is used by cities of 9,000 people, and the central air-conditioning had to circulate 2.5 million cubic feet of air a minute.

The Houston Oilers NFL football team called the dome home from 1968 to 1997. The Oilers have since moved to Nashville Tennessee and assumed the name of the Tennessee Titans. The NFL’s most recent expansion team, the Houston Texans now play next door at the Reliant Stadium. The Houston Astros MLB baseball team called the dome home from 1965 to 1999 when they moved to their new facility in downtown Houston. Of course the biggest event of the Astrodome was the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo where famous concerts and rodeos were held each year from 1966 to 2003 when the rodeo moved to Reliant Park. Across the Interstate-610 Loop from 19xx to 20xx was Astroworld amusement park. Together the Astrodome was the centerpiece of an entertainment mecca in Houston as it served as the eighth wonder of the world.

Some notable events in the Houston Astrodome included:

• In 1968, No. 1 UCLA played No. 2 University of Houston before a crowd of 52,963 - the largest attendance ever for a basketball game. Houston defeated UCLA 71-69 behind a 39 point scoring effort from Elvin Hayes.
• The 1971 NCAA men's basketball Final Four was held at the Astrodome.
• On September 20, 1973, the Astrodome played host to one of the most talked-about events in sports history: the famous "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match which pitted female star Billie Jean King against former men's Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs. King defeated 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
• The 1968 and 1986 Major League Baseball All-Star Games were held here, as was the 1989 NBA All-Star Game.
• The 1992 Republican National Convention was held at the Astrodome.
• On August 31, 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Harris County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the State of Louisiana came to an agreement to allow 25,000 evacuees from New Orleans, that were sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome to use the Astrodome as a temporary shelter.

For more information and links to other Astrodome related content, visit the Wikipedia Astrodome page where some of this content is sourced.

While it is unlikely that your travels to Houston will have you attend an event at the Astrodome, the Holiday Inn Astrodome (now Holiday Inn Reliant Park) wants to welcome to Houston and invite you to always Remember the Astrodome with us!