History

          From 1916 to 1926, Emerson Field was considered the home of the North Carolina Tar Heels.  However, its limited capacity of 2,400 was inadequate for the increasing crowd sizes.  Expansion of Emerson was not possible because it was also used by the baseball team; therefore, any new football seats would have been too far away for baseball games.  Thus, a new location was necessary for the football games.  This new location ended up being on the far southern end of campus.  This location was chosen in order to keep academia (such as the classrooms and library) and football separate from one another.  
          Construction on Kenan Stadium began in November of 1926.  The stadium was originally supposed to be funded by alumni donations.  This financing plan changed after William Rand Kenan Jr. showed an interest in the proposal.  Kenan Jr., the grandson of an original UNC trustee, was born in North Carolina in 1873 and graduated from Carolina in 1894.  After graduation, he became a prominent business man in Miami.  He was already considering establishing a memorial to his parents, William R. Kenan and Mary Hargrave Kenan, when he heard plans of a new football stadium at Carolina.  After seeing a copy of the prospect and the plan for financing the stadium, Kenan decided that this stadium would be the perfect memorial for his parents.  On the day which Kenan visited the planned site, he announced his financial gift to the stadium.  The final cost of both the stadium and the accompanying fieldhouse ended up being $303,000.  The construction was completed by August of 1927 with a capacity of 24,000, with overflow bleachers which could hold up to 40,000 spectators.  Even after the completion of the original stadium, Kenan continued to be a large financial contributor to the stadium and helped to fund several of its expansions.  In death, he left a trust to directly benefit the stadium, fieldhouse, and university as a whole.

Sources:

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/facilities/unc-kenan-stadium.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenan_Memorial_Stadium