The Drake Fieldhouse is an athletic facility of Drake University

Drake University

Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....

. It was built in 1926 as a companion to Drake's football stadium

Drake Stadium

Drake Stadium is a stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is primarily used for the Drake Relays, and is the home field of the Drake University Bulldogs. It opened in 1925 and underwent a $15 million renovation in 2005. Widening the track reduced the stadium's seating capacity from 18,000...

. It is the location for the athletic department offices, an indoor track, a tartan court area and equipment and locker rooms. It was formerly the home for Drake Bulldogs

Drake Bulldogs

The Drake Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Drake University. Athletic scholarships are offered in basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, softball, track and field, tennis, and volleyball. However, all football players are walk-ons as Drake does not offer athletic scholarships in that sport...

 men's basketball until they moved to Veterans Memorial Auditorium

Veterans Memorial Auditorium (Des Moines)

Veterans Memorial Auditorium is an arena in Des Moines, Iowa, that is part of the Iowa Events Center complex. It opened on February 1, 1955, and was named to honor the World War II veterans of Polk County. It has 7,227 permanent seats, with the capacity to add an additional 4,000 seats for concerts...

. The first basketball game was played on January 4, 1927. The last regularly scheduled game was played during the 1961-62 school year. The last men's basketball game to be played there was on February 28, 1987, when Veterans Memorial Auditorium was not available so they had to play Southern Illinois in the conference tournament at the Fieldhouse.

Drake Fieldhouse has hosted many high school events, including the boys state basketball tournament around the time of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and the girl's indoor track tournament as recently as the mid 1990s.