Lost venues, 1900–1949
The era of steel-and-concrete ballparks, early arenas, board-track motor racing and grand racetrack grandstands.
218 venues
View on map →Normal Park
Normal Park was a football and baseball field on Chicago's South Side, in use from about 1914 to about 1951. It was an early home of the NFL's Chicago Cardinals.
Terrapin Park
Terrapin Park was built for Baltimore's 1914-15 Federal League club and then served the International League Orioles as Oriole Park until it burned in July 1944. Rowhouses, a school and a brewery now occupy the site.
Balboa Stadium
Balboa Stadium, built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, was the San Diego Chargers' home from 1961 to 1966. The original stadium was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a small 3,000-seat field in 1978.
Braves Field
Braves Field was the Boston Braves' ballpark on Commonwealth Avenue from 1915 to 1952. After the team left, Boston University bought it, and part of the old structure survives inside the university's Nickerson Field.
Clyde Williams Field
Clyde Williams Field was Iowa State's on-campus football stadium from 1915 to 1975. It was razed in 1978 and residence halls now occupy the site.
Denny Field (Alabama)
Denny Field was the University of Alabama's football field from 1915 through the 1928 season. Denny Stadium, now Bryant-Denny Stadium, replaced it in 1929.
Des Moines Speedway
Des Moines Speedway was a one-mile board track at Valley Junction, Iowa, operated from 1915 to 1917 by the Prince Speedway Company. It was dismantled in November 1917.
Harrison Park
Harrison Park in Harrison, New Jersey was built for the Federal League's 1915 Newark Peppers, then housed the minor-league Newark Bears and national soccer finals until fire destroyed it in August 1923.
Pelican Stadium
Pelican Stadium, first called Heinemann Park, was the New Orleans Pelicans' home at Tulane and Carrollton avenues from 1915 to 1957. It was torn down and a hotel was built on the site.
Seattle Ice Arena
The Seattle Ice Arena in downtown Seattle was home of the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American team to win the Stanley Cup, in 1917. It closed in 1924 and was demolished in 1963.
Stoll Field/McLean Stadium
Stoll Field, whose grandstands were named McLean Stadium in 1924, was the University of Kentucky's football home until 1972. The stands were razed in the 1970s.
Uniontown Speedway
Uniontown Speedway was a 1.1-mile wooden board track at Hopwood, Pennsylvania, that held AAA races from 1916 to 1922. A half-mile dirt track later operated nearby on the site.
Lakewood Speedway
A one-mile dirt oval at Atlanta's Lakewood fairgrounds, raced from 1917 to 1979 and known as the Indianapolis of the South, whose site is now partly covered by Lakewood Amphitheatre's parking.
Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway was a 1.25-mile wooden board track that ran AAA championship races from 1920 to 1924. Rising land values led to its removal, and the site became part of the Wilshire Boulevard commercial district.
Thompson Stadium
Thompson Stadium was a small ballpark in Stapleton, Staten Island, where the NFL's Staten Island Stapletons played from 1929 to 1932. It was demolished in 1958 and the Stapleton Houses now occupy the site.
Cotati Speedway
Cotati Speedway was a 1.25-mile board track in Sonoma County that held AAA championship races in 1921 and 1922. Its lumber was salvaged for local buildings after it closed.
Hollywood Legion Stadium
Hollywood Legion Stadium, run by American Legion Post 43, was Hollywood's boxing and wrestling arena from the early 1920s until 1959. The 1938 building survives as a gym.
New York Velodrome
The New York Velodrome on 225th Street in the Bronx hosted professional bicycle racing from 1921 until it burned on August 4, 1930. The site is now part of the River Plaza shopping center.
Gonzaga Stadium
Gonzaga Stadium was a 10,000-seat football stadium on the Gonzaga University campus, opened in 1922. Gonzaga dropped football after 1941, high school games ended in 1947 and the seating was demolished in 1949.
Laurel Garden Arena
Laurel Garden Arena on Springfield Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, was a 3,000-seat boxing and wrestling club from 1922 until about 1953. It was demolished in the mid-1950s.
Mark's Stadium
Mark's Stadium in North Tiverton, Rhode Island, opened in 1922 as the home of the Fall River Marksmen of the American Soccer League. It was torn down in the 1950s and the site is now an empty lot.
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
Baltimore's 33rd Street stadium, begun as a 1922 football bowl and rebuilt around 1950-54, was home to the Orioles through 1991 and to the Colts, Stallions and Ravens before demolition in 2001-02.
University of Detroit Stadium
University of Detroit Stadium was the Titans' football field and the Detroit Lions' early home, including their 1935 championship. It was demolished in 1971.
Bellevue Park
Bellevue Park was the Green Bay Packers' home field for the 1923 and 1924 seasons. It was razed in 1928 for commercial development.