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The ground is built on what was previously called Clepington Park. In 1875, the area of Dundee between Coldside and Maryfield was open countryside, the only habitation being the farmhouses of West Clepington and East Clepington farms. Where Dens Road and Mains Road converged the road degenerated into a cart-track at what is now Provost Road, and this continued several hundred yards north to meet Clepington Road. The area immediately south of Clepington Road was simply open fields. The only road leading into this area was Arklay Street, a mere hundred yards in length north from Dens Road.

Organised football was by then burgeoning throughout the city and the grassy part of that area – that is now allotments behind Tannadice Park – was first used in the late 1870s. The first club to claim part of that area as its home ground was called East End F.C. They did so in 1882, giving it the name Clepington Park. East End remained there until moving to a new ground in 1890, and Clepington Park was then taken over by Dundee Wanderers. East End would be one of the two clubs which amalgamated to form Dundee F.C. in 1893.

By that time, Provost Road had been built, and, like Arklay Street, had been built as far north as Clepington Road. The area to the west of Arklay Street remained open land but that to the east was being gradually developed. Proceeding north up Arklay Street in 1890, one of the new streets on the right had been given the name Tannadice Street.

The following year Dundee Wanderers decided to enclose the ground they had taken over to enable them to charge for admission. But, in order to provide a better vantage point for spectators, it was decided to harness the natural slope roughly a hundred yards to the west, below what is now Sandeman Street. It was this area which they enclosed and the club built what was termed a ‘grandstand’, although this was a simple wooden structure of bench seats, probably no more than ten deep; it had no roof and would have accommodated 500 spectators at most.

By 1909, Tannadice Street had been extended across Arklay Street to meet Sandeman Street at an angle. At the point where these two streets met was Dens Park, the new Dundee F.C. ground, opened in 1899. The triangular area immediately to its east, circumscribed by Sandeman, Arklay and Tannadice Streets, contained Clepington Park.

When Dundee Hibernian were formed that year, their choice of a ground came as a surprise. Given the club’s origins within the city’s Irish community, it had been expected they would set up home in the Lochee district, where the bulk of that community had settled. However, rather than construct their own ground, the men who had formed the new club decided to seek ready-made accommodation at Clepington Park, home for the past 19 years of Dundee Wanderers, a club which would be the Hibs’ main local rivals. On behalf of his committee, the Hibs’ secretary Pat Reilly made an offer to the landlords which clearly exceeded what Wanderers were paying. The result was that the established tenants were informed that their lease would not be renewed for the coming season, and instead was to be transferred to the Hibs in 1909.

This caused quite a furore in the city and the extent of the Wanderers’ anger can be gauged from the fact that, before departing Clepington Park, the club dismantled the grandstand and wooden changing rooms along with the fencing which enclosed the ground; even the goal-posts were removed, leaving Hibs with an open space.

Immediately on taking over the lease, the Hibs committee decided to emphasise the arrival of the new club by changing the name of the ground. They settled on Tannadice Park, adopting the name of the street on which the main entrance to the ground was to be situated.

The Dundee Hibs board's first priority after enclosing it, was to provide changing accommodation. At that time, dressing-rooms were not usually built under the grandstand, but were contained in a stand-alone building known as the pavilion, following the example of cricket grounds. The pavilion was a common feature at Scottish football grounds, particularly smaller ones, until well after World War Two, it was situated at the South-East corner of the ground where the players’ tunnel is today, and remained at Tannadice until 1961. Some indication of the early development of Tannadice can be had from the following report taken from the city’s Evening Telegraph newspaper of 21 July 1909:

‘The pavilion is a splendid two-storey structure built of brick, containing two large dressing-rooms, two committee rooms, press box and referee’s room. The pavilion will be lit by electricity. The stand on the road side will be the whole length of the field and will seat about 1,000 people.’

The club's and the ground's innaugural match was against Edinburgh Hibernian on 18 August 1909, in front of a crowd of 7,000. The original capacity of Tannadice Park was around 10,000, the terracings were specially extended and additional temporary seating erected for a Qualifying Cup-tie against Forfar Athletic in 1913; all of this was necessary to allow a record crowd to be accommodated, and the reported attendance was 15,000.

No further improvements to the ground took place until Dundee United won promotion to Division One for the first time in 1925. The Scottish League Management Committee informed the club that Tannadice would be subject to an inspection during the close season to ensure that it was up to the standard required for the higher level, and this clearly concentrated the directors’ minds. Since 1909, Tannadice had been leased, but the board now decided to buy the ground, paying £2,500. Extensive renovations were then begun, the first to the pitch. There was a steep upwards slope towards the corner where the George Fox and East Stands now meet, and this necessitated solid rock being blasted to enable it to be levelled. For the first time, proper terracings were constructed, while the pavilion was given a facelift and new turnstiles were built..