Lost venues, Before 1900
Venues that were in use before 1900, including nineteenth-century baseball grounds and early racecourses.
46 venues
View on map →Kentucky Association Race Track
The Kentucky Association track in Lexington was one of America's oldest racecourses, operating from about 1828 until 1933. Its gates were later replicated at Keeneland.
Recreation Park (Philadelphia)
Recreation Park in North Philadelphia hosted baseball from about 1860 and was the Phillies' first National League home from 1883 to 1886.
Union Grounds
Union Grounds in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, opened in 1862 as the first fully enclosed baseball park and hosted National Association and National League clubs in the 1870s before its demolition in 1883.
Capitoline Grounds
The Capitoline Grounds in Bedford, Brooklyn, opened in 1864 as a combined skating pond and ballfield, and there the Atlantics ended Cincinnati's 84-game winning streak in 1870.
Jefferson Street Grounds
Jefferson Street Grounds in North Philadelphia hosted the first National League game on April 22, 1876, and was home to Athletics clubs into 1890. A city recreation center now stands on the site.
Jerome Park Racetrack
Jerome Park was the American Jockey Club's racetrack in what is now the Bronx, home of the first Belmont Stakes in 1867. It closed for the Jerome Park Reservoir.
Bel Air Race Track
Bel Air Race Track was a Thoroughbred track in Bel Air, Maryland, dating from the 1870s and closed around 1960-1962. The Harford Mall now covers the site.
South End Grounds
The South End Grounds was the home of Boston's National Association and National League club from 1871 until August 1914. Northeastern University buildings and a garage now cover the site.
Eclipse Park
The first Eclipse Park, at 28th and Elliott Streets in Louisville, was home to the Louisville Eclipse and Colonels of the American Association and National League from 1882 until fire destroyed it in 1892.
Lake Front Park
Lake Front Park was the Chicago White Stockings' National League ballpark on the downtown lakefront from 1878 to 1884, notorious for its tiny right field.
Messer Street Grounds
Messer Street Grounds was the home of the National League's Providence Grays from 1878 to 1885, on the west side of Providence.
Recreation Park (Detroit)
Recreation Park was home to the National League's Detroit Wolverines from 1881 to 1888 and hosted Detroit's first major league game. The Detroit Medical Center now occupies the site.
Latonia Race Track
Latonia Race Track in Covington, Kentucky, was one of the country's leading Thoroughbred tracks from 1883 to 1939. It was razed in 1941, and a shopping center now covers most of the site.
Sulphur Dell
Sulphur Dell was Nashville's main ballpark from 1885 to 1963, known for its steep right-field slope. It was razed in 1969, and the Sounds' First Horizon Park now stands on the site.
West Side Park (I)
West Side Park was the Chicago White Stockings' home on the Near West Side from 1885 to 1891, where they won the 1885 and 1886 National League pennants.
Gravesend Race Track
Gravesend Race Track was the Brooklyn Jockey Club's Thoroughbred track from 1886 until anti-betting laws stopped New York racing around 1910. It hosted the Preakness Stakes for more than a decade.
Swampoodle Grounds
Swampoodle Grounds, near the Capitol in Washington, was home to the National League's Washington Nationals from 1886 to 1889.
Baker Bowl
Baker Bowl was the Phillies' home at Broad and Lehigh from 1887 to mid-1938. Its tiny right field and steep wall made it a hitter's park; it was gone by 1950.
Borchert Field
Borchert Field, opened in 1888 as Athletic Park, was the cramped north-side Milwaukee ballpark that housed the minor-league Brewers for half a century before County Stadium.
Morris Park Racecourse
Morris Park Racecourse in the Bronx hosted the Belmont Stakes from 1890 to 1904. After racing ended it became an early aviation field and then the Morris Park neighborhood.
Benning Race Track
Benning Race Track was Washington, D.C.'s Thoroughbred track from 1890 until Congress banned racing in the District in 1908. The Mayfair Mansions apartments now stand on the site.
Congress Street Grounds
The Congress Street Grounds in South Boston hosted the pennant-winning Boston Reds in 1890 and 1891 and the Beaneaters in 1894, when Bobby Lowe hit four home runs there in one game.
Eastern Park
Eastern Park in East New York was built for the 1890 Players' League and was the Brooklyn National League club's home through 1897. The site is now industrial.
Exposition Park (Pittsburgh)
Exposition Park on Pittsburgh's North Shore was the Pirates' home from 1891 to mid-1909 and hosted the first modern World Series in 1903. The site is now mostly parking.