At last the Queen's Park had found a habitation; its name had already obtained a widespread reputation, jumping as it did from comparative obscurity to International fame by its splendid achievements. The field was situated to the south of Myrtle Park Terrace, and the Cathcart Railway now runs through the western corner of the field. It was not quite level, a hill running up towards the southeastern side, but in every way suitable as a football enclosure. Mr. Andrew Speirs was then president of the club, and Mr. Archibald Rae, a most energetic and capable official, secretary. Once the ground fixed upon, steps were taken to make arrangements "about a house and other conveniences," and it was agreed to charge for admission to the new ground on match days—quite a new experience— and to advertise the opening match to be played on Saturday, 25th October, which was against Dumbreck, and the first Scottish Cup tie ever played by the club, which the Queen's Park won by seven goals to none. The Scottish Association had. only just been formed through the action of the Queen's Park, 13th March, 1873, and Mr. Rae was its first honorary secretary, as well as honorary secretary to the Queen's Park. Mr. Marwick's letter was dated 20th October, and five days afterwards the ground was opened, and a cup tie decided— quick work truly. It must have been with a sigh of regret that the club removed its equipment, posts, ropes, etc., from the Recreation Ground, where it had spent six happy years as a club, and even longer as promiscuous players of football. The members must have entered on their new venture with no little pride. The appurtenances of the game, in. the absence of a house, were kept by the tollman at Mount Florida, "whose remuneration was 20s., provided he took charge of the footballs and other club plant till the 1st May." Meantime Messrs. Thomson and Leckie (the ground committee, with Mr. Rae added) were to look out for, and obtain, a clubhouse, but not to pay more than £20 for it. The membership of the club on entering Hampden Park had increased to exactly one hundred members. Estimates were sought for the clubhouse, and that of Mr. Nicol, £21, was accepted, and the work begun. There was no water, however—deponent sayeth not how the players performed their ablutions; in 1874 an estimate of £15 was considered too much to expend on water—nor was water laid on until May, 1875, when lavatory accommodation, etc., were also provided. The minutes of the 1874 annual meeting are written in rather jubilant style, which is not surprising. Mr. Rae truly states: "We belong to the provident class. We have long had a name. Now we have a local habitation. If we be no landed proprietors, at least we have a house of our own, situate within our own demesne (kailyard, some one called it—a Clydesdale man, I think), and known everywhere as Hampden Park. Let us work, and work together, that our good name may lose none of its magic power over our own hearts, or over the hearts of our foes." The reference to Clydesdale is no doubt due to the fact that R. Gardner had just left the Queen's Park, with which he had been closely identified as a player and legislator, and had joined the Clydesdale in this season, February, 1874, along with the brothers Wotherspoon. Mr. Gardner had been requested to resign his position as representative of the club to the Scottish Football Association committee, and he had refused. With the ground came greater prosperity, and since that memorable 25th October, 1873, the club has never seriously suffered from lack of funds. The sum of £34 10s. 1d. was collected at matches in this first Hampden Park season—the first money that had come from an outside source. In this year membership, or season tickets, were issued for the first time, admitting to all the privileges of the ordinary members, except playing and voting, and from this source £4 5s. had come. The income was £107 10s., the balance to the credit of the club £38 10s. 8d.—unheard-of wealth. But what was this in comparison to the statement of the treasurer, Mr. James Strang (no relative of the late secretary, Mr. James Strang), for season 1875-76, when the income was £781 1s. 6d. and the profit £264 18s.; and ten years later, 1884-85, the treasurer's intromissions were £2,304 2s. 7d., when the second Hampden was completed and paid for to date, leaving £3 0s. 3d. to carry forward. The bold step of establishing a ground of its own proved a profitable one, and met with great reward. To obtain a lease was the next consideration, and the Town Council was offered £20 per annum and to pay "half-fencing of that portion of Hampden Park north of the big gate." Mr. Marwick, as stated, informed the club that it could have whatever portion of Hampden Park it required at a rental of £6 per acre, per annum, the club to pay for the fence enclosing their portion, and to leave on three months' notice, which was so far satisfactory—no lease, however. Now the club was in a position to make the improvements, which had hitherto been delayed, because of insecurity of tenure. The club was most anxious to obtain a lease for at least five years, and the Council was re-approached on the subject, but without avail. The ground was levelled, barricades erected, and a groundsman employed to attend in the evenings. A grand stand was, of course, the next desideratum, and in April, 1876, instructions were given to proceed with the erection of a structure on the south side of the ground, eighty yards long and six seats deep, to be finished before 9th September, 1876, the date of the first open annual athletic sports, the prizes for which cost £130, one of which was won by, and is still in the possession of, the writer. Messrs. J. & J. Phillips offered to do the work at a cost of £237 11s. 7d., and at the same time put up a new gate. A novelty at these sports was a four-a-side football competition, in which Messrs. Taylor, Campbell, M'Neil, and M'Kinnon represented the Queen's Park. All members had to pay for admission to the stand, but not without strong demur, until the revenue derived from it should cover the cost. Mr. Mitchell, president, presented the club with a flag, bearing the familiar Queen's Park colours, to be displayed from one of the newly-erected poles on the grand stand. In payment of Messrs. Phillips' account of £306 13s. 3d., for the stand and other work done, the club granted an acceptance at three months from 19th October, 1876, for £200, "prompt cash being paid for the balance." This was the only acceptance, as already mentioned, given by the Queen's Park in the whole course of its history—a remarkable fact, considering the many heavy responsibilities it entered into since the date in question. Its membership was not very large. It rarely exceeded the hundred, until well on in the 'seventies, but in 1876 it had over six hundred season ticket holders. A close boarding protected the ground on the Cathcart Road side. The field was levelled and returfed, and often it was closed for a period in the summer months for recuperation. The club had to be content with its small wooden £21 pavilion until February, 1878, when that of the Caledonian Cricket Club came into the market, that club having to remove from Burnbank. To acquire this pavilion was considered a large undertaking, and the usual sub-committee was appointed to look into the matter, and report. Plans were prepared for the annual meeting, as the general committee were afraid to take upon themselves such a serious responsibility. Estimates were obtained for purchase, removal, and re-erection. The house was purchased for £65, and the cost of removal was to be £84 ; but when Mr. Rae, the secretary, asked the Town Council to sanction its erection, he was met by the intimation that the Parks Committee had determined to increase the rent to £100. Any argument used to moderate this large increase was unavailing, Bailie Laing, the convener, very plainly stating that the park was already too cheap, from his own personal knowledge the club was quite able to pay the extended figure, considering the large attendance of spectators at the matches, and, finally, that less would not even be entertained. They had full liberty to put up the new house, but no encouragement could be given to the idea of a lease. This was a bombshell, but, taking all things into consideration, it was agreed to accept the terms, and the pavilion went up at a total charge of £239 12s. 1d.—very much in excess of the estimate. At the end of the season, 1878-79, the club had yet a balance to the good of £211 17s. 5d. The pavilion was a valuable asset. It was a sightly building of wood on brick foundation, and excellently suited for the purpose, with the old pavilion as a stand-by. The club enjoyed its first ground for a period of ten years, when the march of civilisation, in the shape of the Cathcart Circle Railway, built to meet the convenience of an extending south side population, forced it to retire from the scene of its early triumphs, and seek fresh fields and quarters new. Truth to tell, it was not averse to this, as the old quarters had become restricted, and scarcely suitable to the requirements of the club.