Kennard Street Park in Cleveland

[runningshoes]

When Bill Phillips took the field at Kennard Street Park in Cleveland, Ohio in May 1879, he not only made baseball history, the 22-year-old made Canadian history as well. Phillips, a native of St. John, New Brunswick, was the first Canadian play along side U. S. players in the America’s fledgling pastime.


Does anyone have or know anything about the old Kennard Street Park in Cleveland where the Blues played from 1879 to the mid 1880's? I'm doing rsearch for a book I'm writing and anything at all would be a big help.

[cnp3]

Originally Posted by runningshoes

When Bill Phillips took the field at Kennard Street Park in Cleveland, Ohio in May 1879, he not only made baseball history, the 22-year-old made Canadian history as well. Phillips, a native of St. John, New Brunswick, was the first Canadian play along side U. S. players in the America’s fledgling pastime.


Does anyone have or know anything about the old Kennard Street Park in Cleveland where the Blues played from 1879 to the mid 1880's? I'm doing rsearch for a book I'm writing and anything at all would be a big help.

This is an old thread to drudge up for my first post, eh?

I've been looking into it a bit.

So, first we have to figure out where the heck Kennard Street Park is.

You have to figure Kennard Street is a good place to start - here's a map from 1890's Cleveland



Kennard street is the orange line. Just Northeast of the north end of Kennard Street is a item labeled "Base Ball Grounds" Seems likely that's the ticket - although the purple box is big enough for baseball parks in any of those city blocks. There's currently a baseball field at a rec center where i have the pink box - but no maps of the time have anything but streets there, and I think it's unlikely that the field was there

The thing that makes me unsure of that "Base Ball Grounds" is it's size - for reference on this map - I've traced where some of Cleveland's major fields are - The red box is Jacobs Field - the Green box is Quicken Loans Arena (Gund Arena) and the Brown box is where old League Park stood. That yellow Box around "Base Ball Grounds" is huge - and part of what makes me curious about how big the parcel of land can actually be for Kennard Street Park is this tidbit from Baseball Library's chronology -

Aug 10 - Larry Corcoran's one-hitter beats the Grays‚ 5-1‚ Bradley doubling over the RF wall in the 8th for the only Providence hit. Chicago's Lake Front Park‚ Buffalo's Riverside Park‚ and Cleveland's Kennard Street Park all have ground rules call for only two bases on hits over certain portions of the outfield fences.

Anyway - The next picture is the google image of where "base ball grounds" was -



The nifty looking building is the headquarters of Applied Industrial Technologies and the rest of the neighborhood is light industrial/residential.

This is not currently Cleveland's safest neighborhood

The next picture is the purple box - those 6 city blocks I think big enough for a field.



There is an area south of Kennard Street that is a railyard.

If you're interested in looking around there on google or something - bear in mind that street names have changed to the following

Kennard Street - East 46th Street
Case Avenue - East 40th Street
Sterling Avenue - East 30th street
Hayward Avenue - East 36th Street
Garden Street - Central Avenue

Hope this helps - I wonder what you've found out about it? Am I even looking in the right place?

[JamesWest]

If Perry St. is the present day E. 24th St, then it looks like the yellow box is adjacent to the present day Cleveland State University. In the purple box, it looks like Sibley Ave is now Carnegie, which is a major east-west artery.

In 1879, I think that Willson Street (now E. 55th) was Cleveland's eastern border, with Newburgh on Cleveland's east. The city of Newburgh no longer exists.

The prurple box is just north of the Outhwaite Housing projects, East Tech High School and the I-490 interchange, which I believe are all cotained in the magenta box. It is not the safest neighborhood in Cleveland.

Since the Brown box is the location of League Park, I think the Kennard Street Grounds could have been squeezed into the purple box, maybe in it's upper right corner.

In John Stark Bellamy's books about Cleveland, it sounds as if the area around Payne avenue was mostly vacant lots at the trun of the last century. That's close enough to indicate that the yellow may have been a park that had sandlot fields or maybe a small amusemsnt park (Maybe Luna Park?)

[JamesWest]

A few years ago, I was looking at the Cleveland Press from the era when my grandfathers were born (1912-1915) and came across a team called the Cleveland Spiders who were playing in 1912 or 1913 (maybe both) in the United States League, which I believe was an embyonic version of the Federal League. This version of the Spiders may have played at Kennard Park, if it still existed. I don't remember any reference to them playing at League Park.

[Ubiquitous]

According to Green Cathedrals the second the google map reveals the location of Kennard Park. In the lower right hand corner with 46th street on the left, Carnegie on the north, and cedar ave in the south. Or basically the purple box on the old time map.

[runningshoes]

Wow,

This was the very first thread I started when I joined BBF.

I didn't think it would ever see the light of day again.

Thanks for the great info, guys.

[RuthMayBond]

Originally Posted by JamesWest

The city of Newburgh no longer exists.

There is a Newburgh Heights

<In John Stark Bellamy's books about Cleveland>

We worked for the same organization

[Ubiquitous]

Speaking of Newburgh, that area actually had a ballpark. Originally called Beyerle's Park. This might very well of been the park used by USL in 1912 at which point it was called Washington Park.

I have no idea when it was last used, the last reference for it was in 1930.

[RuthMayBond]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Speaking of Newburgh, that area actually had a ballpark. Originally called Beyerle's Park. This might very well of been the park used by USL in 1912 at which point it was called Washington Park.
.

THAT's the one I think that had 150,000 attendance at a game once

[Ubiquitous]

Doubt it since the reports have it as a small stadium. Secondly in all of its history only one "major league" game was played there. An American Association game in 1888 or so. I think it was mostly used for minor league teams or for town teams. The negro leagues used it every so often in the 20's though, and about 1927 is the last we hear of it in terms upper levels of baseball.

[RuthMayBond]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Speaking of Newburgh, that area actually had a ballpark. Originally called Beyerle's Park. This might very well of been the park used by USL in 1912 at which point it was called Washington Park.

I have no idea when it was last used, the last reference for it was in 1930.

My info says Beyerle Park was in Geauga Lake (even closer to my house) so it has nothing to do with present-day Newburgh Heights.
As to my other goof, the ~150,000 attendance was a municipal league game at Cleveland's Brookside Stadium on 9/20/1914.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by RuthMayBond

There is a Newburgh Heights

Newburgh was a separate entity. At one point in the 19th century, Newburgh was the largest city in Cuyahoga County.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by RuthMayBond

THAT's the one I think that had 150,000 attendance at a game once

That game was at Brookside Park.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Speaking of Newburgh, that area actually had a ballpark. Originally called Beyerle's Park. This might very well of been the park used by USL in 1912 at which point it was called Washington Park.

I have no idea when it was last used, the last reference for it was in 1930.

There was also a ballpark in Collinwood where the Naps played some Sunday games. This was before Collinwood was incorporated into Cleveland. I think that Newburgh was completely incorporated into Cleveland and broken up into suburbs by 1912.

Do you have a street location for Beyerle's Park?

[RuthMayBond]

Originally Posted by JamesWest

That game was at Brookside Park.

Like in post 11?

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by RuthMayBond

THAT's the one I think that had 150,000 attendance at a game once

That single game nearly outdrew the Naps entire 1914 season.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by RuthMayBond

Like in post 11?

I don't believe that there was ever a place called Brookside Stadium.

[RuthMayBond]

Originally Posted by JamesWest

I don't believe that there was ever a place called Brookside Stadium.

I gotta get better sources

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

According to Green Cathedrals the second the google map reveals the location of Kennard Park. In the lower right hand corner with 46th street on the left, Carnegie on the north, and cedar ave in the south. Or basically the purple box on the old time map.

If that's the case, then the location of that ballpark wasn't far from the majority of Cleveland's Torso Murders.

I haven't been by that area in a while, but I think part of that land is taken up by the City Mission now. That's a pretty blighted area.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by JamesWest

There was also a ballpark in Collinwood where the Naps played some Sunday games. This was before Collinwood was incorporated into Cleveland. I think that Newburgh was completely incorporated into Cleveland and broken up into suburbs by 1912.

Do you have a street location for Beyerle's Park?

The book claims it was in Newburgh Heights.

Leftfield (SE) Sykora Street, Third Base (NE) Independence RD (running from NW to SE) and Hugo Ave (running SW to NE), Home Plate (N) Beyerle st, First Base (NW) Hugo Brick Plant, Right Field (SW) just outside of Cleveland city limits.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

The book claims it was in Newburgh Heights.

Leftfield (SE) Sykora Street, Third Base (NE) Independence RD (running from NW to SE) and Hugo Ave (running SW to NE), Home Plate (N) Beyerle st, First Base (NW) Hugo Brick Plant, Right Field (SW) just outside of Cleveland city limits.

Independence Rd runs thriugh the Slavic Village section of Cleveland into Newbugh Hts and IIRC there is a small park around there. Those other streets don't ring a bell, though.

If one of those streets is now Harvard Ave, the ballpark may have been near what is now the Alcoa plant.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by JamesWest

That game was at Brookside Park.

According to this book the October 10, 1915 game at Brookside park was the highest attended baseball game in America at 100,000 people. Though 2 other baseball games topped it, one in Australia and one in Berlin.

The Cleveland game was a semipro national semi-final between Omaha Panhandlers and Cleveland White Auto.

[JamesWest]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

According to this book the October 10, 1915 game at Brookside park was the highest attended baseball game in America at 100,000 people. Though 2 other baseball games topped it, one in Australia and one in Berlin.

The Cleveland game was a semipro national semi-final between Omaha Panhandlers and Cleveland White Auto.

The Elgin Restaraunt at the corner of Pearl and Memphis, near Brookside Park was decorated with a picture of that game. When I first saw it as a kid, it looked like there was about a half million people there.

[Ubiquitous]

That game reminds of something in Chicago. The all-time attendance record at Soldier Field in Chicago was set in the late 30's. Do you by whom? It was set by a bunch of fans that came out to see two rival catholic high school football teams player each other.

You look around the web and I believe they list a Notre Dame game as the highest, so perhaps it wasn't but from what I have heard from people at that game there was well over 100,000 people there to see a high school football game.

[JamesWest]

The Brookside Park game is kind of mind-boggling in one other respect. At that time, that area of Cleveland wasn't easily accesible form the mosre populous east side. I believe that in that period there was only one major bridge (the infamous Centrel Viaduct) connecting the east side and west side of Cleveland. Brookside Park is located in the most southern section of the west side. It now contains the Cleveland zoo, and is near where the Drew Carey Show took place (in the Old Brooklyn section of Cleveland). In 1915, many of those people who went to that game probably had quite a difficult commute to and from the game.