The 'Brownlow' name will again adorn Simonds Stadium from 2017 after the Cats announced that the $91 million facility being constructed as part of the Stage Four redevelopment will be known as the Charles Brownlow Stand.
Geelong president Colin Carter made the announcement at the club's season launch in Melbourne on Tuesday night, lauding the contribution of Brownlow to both the club, the city and the game.
"Charles Brownlow is arguably the best known name in football history," Carter told the Geelong faithful.
"The AFL Competition, of course, remembers Brownlow as an administrator, but he was also a player for the Geelong Football Club around 130 years ago - in that era that has been forgotten by the AFL.
"His name is not only the most famous name in the AFL's history but he is also a link to our club's own early history as the second oldest professional football club in the world that is still in existence."
In recent times the club has moved away from naming stands in honour of individuals, with the Players and Premiership stands at the river end of the stadium.
However, Carter said the Brownlow name, which adorned the old members' stand that was demolished to make way for the Stage Four redevelopment, deserved special treatment.
"We believe that the Brownlow name now means much, much more than any reference to an individual," Carter said. "The name is now synonymous with excellence in our competition and the name oozes with football history.
"We want to own it and celebrate it because he was a Geelong person - one of us.
"We see it as a little like other major sporting events that were originally named after individuals - like the Davis Cup in tennis and the Cox Plate in racing - where names have developed a life of their own that far exceeds the person originally involved.
"That's also true of the name 'Brownlow' and that is why we are so keen to possess it as our very own - a special part of this club's heritage."
The Charles Brownlow stand is expected to be completed in May of 2017, and will see capacity at Simonds Stadium increased to 36,000.
The facilities will also feature a new social club, an enhanced football department, improved media facilities and greater community engagement through the Sunrise centre that will aim to rehabilitate people to return to the workforce following serious injury.
"This is one of the ... most important things to happen to Geelong in my time – outside of the premierships," Cats chief executive Brian Cook told The Age in December.
Get all the information on the Stage Four development and read the previous stories on the subject
