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The club moved to the second Hampden Park, 150 yards from the original, because the Cathcart District Railway planned a new line through the site of the ground’s western terrace.

A lawn bowling club at the junction of Queen’s Drive and Cathcart Road marks the site of the first Hampden.  The second Hampden Park opened in October 1884.

It became a regular home to the Scottish Cup Final, but Celtic Park shared some of the big matches including the Scotland v England fixture in 1894. 

In the late 1890s, Queen’s Park requested more land for development of the second Hampden Park. This was refused by the landlords, which led to the club seeking a new site.  Henry Erskine Gordon agreed to sell 12 acres of land off Somerville Drive to Queen’s Park in November 1899.

James Miller designed twin grandstands along the south side of the ground with a pavilion wedged in between. The natural slopes were shaped to form banks of terracing, designed by Archibald Leitch. 

Construction of the new ground took over three years to complete. During the process, a disaster occurred at Ibrox in which part of the wooden terraces collapsed. In response, the terraces at Hampden were firmly set in the earthwork and innovative techniques were used to control spectators.

Third Lanark A.C. took over the second Hampden Park in 1903 and renamed it Cathkin Park after their previous ground of the same name.

The club rebuilt the ground from scratch due to a failure to agree a fee for the whole stadium which resulted in Queen’s Park removing the pavilion and other fittings, which they owned, while the ground itself was leased.

 During the first season following the move (1903-04), in which they finished as champions), Third Lanark played several of their home matches at the new Hampden while work was carried out on Cathkin Park. Third Lanark went out of business in 1967 and Cathkin Park is now a public park with much of the original terracing still evident.

The first Scottish Cup Final played at the ground was an Old Firm match in 1904, attracting a record Scottish crowd of 64,672. The first Scotland v England match at the ground was played in April 1906 with 102,741 people in attendance, which established Hampden as the primary home of the Scotland team. 

Hampden Park was the biggest stadium in the world from the time of its opening until it was surpassed by the Maracana in 1950. Along with Celtic Park and Ibrox, the city of Glasgow possessed the three largest football stadia in the world at the time Hampden opened.

1. The First Largest Stadia

The stadia had a capacity of 121,452 in the 1900s. This was evident during the 1908 Scotland v England match. The two Old Firm matches played for the 1909 Scottish Cup Final attracted a total of 131,000.

There was a riot during the match which pushed the Scottish Football Association to stop using Hampden park as the the Scottish Cup Final venue.

2. The Unique and Extensive Improvement

Queen’s Park conducted extensive ground improvements after the 1909 riot. A new world record of 127,307 were in attendance to see Scotland play England in 1912.

 A fire in 1914 destroyed the pavilion, which was replaced by a four-storey structure with a press box on the roof.

3. The Return of the Scottish Cup Final

The Scottish Cup Final returned to Hampden in 1920, when a large crowd of 95,000 saw Kilmarnock win the cup against Albion Rovers. 

4. The First England Win

England first win in the stadium was in 1927 a match between Scotland and England. 

5. The Purchase of more land due to Public Demand

Hampden became the de facto sole venue of the Scottish Cup Final after 1925. Queen’s Park purchased more land in 1923 to bring the total to 33 acres. 25,000 places were added to the terraces and rigid crush barriers were installed in 1927.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

World record crowds attended Scotland matches against England in 1931 and 1933. In 1933, Austria, who had beaten Scotland 5–0 in Vienna in 1931, became the first foreign national side to visit Hampden Park. 

7. The Unexpected Overflow of Football Match Spectators

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

This work increased the official theoretical capacity of the ground to 183,388 in 1937, but the SFA were only allowed to issue 150,000 tickets for games.

However, Scotland v England match in 1937 had another overflow with the official attendance of 149,415, but at least 20,000 more people entered the ground without tickets. 

In the same year, Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen drew an official crowd of 147,365, with 20,000 more people locked outside. This stood as a world record for a club match until 1963.

8. Second World War Football Match Restriction 

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

During the Second World War, matches at heavily attended grounds were initially prohibited due to the fear of aerial bombing by the Luftwaffe.

Scottish national league and cup competitions were suspended for the duration of the war, but regional league and cup competitions were established in their place.

Attendance was initially restricted to 50 percent of capacity; therefore, when 75,000 attended a wartime cup final in May 1940, it was the maximum permitted.

9. The Home Guard

The Parashots, a forerunner of the Home Guard, set up a command post at Lesser Hampden in 1940.  

A government official presented an order demanding that both the Hampden and Lesser Hampden pitches be ploughed and used to plant vegetables, but the Queen’s Park committee chose to ignore the order and the government did not pursue it.

10. The Mysterious Fire

A fire broke out on 25 December 1945 and destroyed the stadium press box including the offices. The press box was replaced with a plainer two-storey structure that overhung the pitch.

The Hampden fixture list was also expanded by the new Scottish League Cup competition. This gave the Hampden park a new face that is being modified every other season.