Brewer's Park

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center posted about Baseball Parks in Knoxville.

One of the parks mentioned in their article is Brewer Park, later to be known as Booker T. Washington Park.  In 1920 the Knoxville Giants, part of the Negro Southern League, would play their home games at Booker T. Washington Park.

What was it before then?  The first sporting event I can find is for the Knoxville College football team to host Fisk University in a football game in mid November of 1907.

The Journal and Tribune - November 15, 1907
image from newspapers.com

The first baseball game mentioned was the next year, in 1908 when the teams of Knoxville College played the YMCA.

The Journal and Tribune - June 8, 1908
image from newspapers.com

A week and a half later the Colored YMCA hosted the Athens team at Brewers Park.  Pitching for the locals was Beck, presumably James Beck.

The Journal and Tribune - June 17, 1908
image from newspapers.com

Where was Brewers Park located?  A 1916 city engineering map shows the location at the corner of Spring Avenue (now Lay) and Harrison Street.

1916 Knoxville Engineering map of Brewers Park

In the spring of 1908 improvements were planned for Brewer Park.  A pavilion and grand stand were in the works.  

The Journal and Tribune - May 14, 1908

In mid June of 1908 citizens of Park City filed an injunction against William A. Brewer, manager of Brewer Park, to have the park closed.  The citizens were concerned about the behavior of those congregating at the park.  They were considered to be intoxicated and indulged in coarse, profane, loud and vulgar language and immoral practices.

The injunction was dismissed in June of 1909 because there wasn't sufficient evidence.  Residents then wanted to appeal the court's decision and close the park

The Knoxville City League scheduled games at the end of June, 1908.  These games show that the park was open to white teams as well.

In early May of 1909 the park opened for its second season.

Near the end of July 1909 white fans were invited to attend a game between the Coca-Cola Stars of Knoxville and the Chattanooga Giants.

Brewer Park wasn't only used for baseball and dancing.  In August of 1909 it was announced that the First Annual Fair of the Colored Race was to be held.  Agriculture, live stock, mechanics, and women's exhibits were to be a part of it.  Booker Washington was scheduled to make an address at the three day event.

In the spring of 1910 William H. Brewer died.  He is buried at Freedman's Mission Historic Cemetery (Knoxville College).  The next month it was reported that the sale of Brewer Park from Allie S. Brewer (William's wife) and Lewis Spears to Walter Kennedy was being filed in Chancery Court.

Throughout much of the decade of the 'teens, the park was used for both Colored and city league games, as well as other activities such as the Negro Commercial Celebration (1912), Concerts and Picnics (1914), Negro Masons Grand Lodge 45th Grand Communication (1915), Emancipation Day Activities (1917), Liberty Bond Meeting (1918), and a Fourth of July Celebration (1919).

1920 saw another change at Brewer's Park.  A Negro stock company purchased the park, renamed it Booker T. Washington Park

Knoxville Sentinel - April 29, 1920
image from Newspapers.com

The formation of the Negro Stock Company is too involved to be included in this post.

So, what is on the land now?  Homes.

Location of Former Brewer's Park / Booker T. Washington Park
image from Google Maps

Condon Park of 1904

Knoxville News Sentinel
June 22, 1904

Recently on Facebook David Waite asked:  

I just learned that Ty Cobb once played baseball in Knoxville at a place called Condon Park. Where was Condon Park?

Several commented on the origin of the name and possible locations. From my earlier research I couldn't ever remember a Condon Park.  Could it have been named after Martin Condon, Knoxville base ball player and then team manager/owner?  (Condon was later Mayor of Knoxville from 1888-89.)

Ty Cobb played for Anniston in the 1904 Tennessee-Alabama League. The League was not part of organized baseball, but more of an outlaw league. Cobb started with Augusta that year, but after two games he bailed. [source]

Knoxville, under the leadership of Frank Moffett, was also a member of the TN-AL league.  Well, it was going to be called the Tri-State League, despite the clubs being in only two states.

The new owners of Chilhowee Park and the Knoxville Traction company (Park, Bacon & Davis, of New York)  wanted to upgrade and make improvements at the Park.  New attractions ("House of Trouble", "The Cave of the Winds", and "Helter Skelter"), expand the auditorium, perform upkeep of the miniature railway, and all of the walks and promenades, according to the Knoxville Sentinel of February 17, 1904. 

The baseball diamond will be regraded and made larger and the place will be made an ideal one for all kinds of sports.  [source]

According to the March 12, 1904 Knoxville Sentinel manager Moffett was hoping:

to play at Baldwin Park again this season, but he says unless the Knoxville Traction company builds a line out Asylum avenue, he feels that it would not justify him in again playing there.  The result is that he may select a site on the Park avenue car line, or elsewhere, for the games to be played.  [source]

According to the May 6, 1904 Knoxville Sentinel, the local team would be making use of Baldwin Park, which:

has been put in excellent condition for the opening of the league.  A new grand stand has been built and no longer can the crowds stand on the bank south of the railroad and see the game.  An iron fence eight feet above the old one has been erected which entirely obscures the view. [source]

Knoxville hosted Chattanooga for the opening of the season at Baldwin park where they won by the score of 7-4 in front of 750 spectators.  [source]

By the end of May there were some shenanigans going on, or so it would seem.  The L&N road crew were out on Dale avenue early in the morning, trying to lay new rails so that they would cross the Southern lines.  And part of Baldwin Park, according to the May 30, 1904 Knoxville Sentinel.  [source]

On that same day the Knoxville Sentinel also reported that Moffett's team, as they were heading on a road trip to the south, was considering moving to Chilhowee park for the remainder of the season.  The team hoped to play their first game there on June 16.

(Chilhowee Park) Manager C.H. Harvey said today that the deal had not been closed for the grounds at Chilhowee Park.  All agree it would be a great move for the baseball people and for the park company.  [source]

Just a week later, June 6, the Knoxville Sentinel reported that the Knoxville Traction company and the Tennessee-Alabama baseball league reached a deal that the league would play the remainder of the season at the Chilhowee park grounds.  

The old baseball grounds in the vicinity of the spring will be graded and placed in condition for the games at once.  The grounds will also be fenced in and a grandstand will be built.  [source]

Then, just two days later the Knoxville Sentinel ran a story about A. Anderson & Co., St. Louis contractors, who were awarded the contract for building the baseball park at Chilhowee park.  They were also building the power house for the L&N depot in Knoxville.  [source]

Just a day before the new park was to open (June 16) there was a report in the News Sentinel that work is still being done on the grandstand and the grounds.

S.P. Condon, the contractor, has a force at work grading the hill which skirts the south end of the baseball grounds and will finish his work today.  This hill is being graded in order that the fielders may not be inconvenienced by its steepness.  For the present, the grounds will be fenced in on the west side by an 8-foot fence, while afterwards the grounds will likely be encircled.  The carpenters are pushed for time and are compelled no to do some temporary work.  The baseball diamond was placed in good condition, today. [source]

S.P. "Steven" Condon, former road commissioner of Knox county, was the local contractor for this renovation.

Knoxville News Sentinel
June 16, 1904

Anniston, with young Ty Cobb, did come to play the Knoxville team at the new park.  Here's the box score for the game on the 21st of June.

Knoxville News Sentinel
June 22, 1904

Cobb only went 1 for 5 that day, but his one hit was a triple.  

My best guess is that Condon Park was named, albeit briefly, for S.P. Condon, contractor.  That name seemed to go out of favor.  I could not find it in the local papers after June 23, 1904.  In early July it was reported that games were being played at Chilhowee Park.  [source]

Not only did the Condon Park name leave Knoxville in the summer of 1904, Frank Moffett did as well, taking a portion of his team and relocating to Brevard, North Carolina.  Knoxville was leading the TN-AL league.  It appears the move was motivated by lack of local support.  [source]

Knoxville Giants play double header on July 4, 1933

July 4th. A time to celebrate Independence Day. A time to play baseball. In 1933, the Knoxville Giants, part of the Negro Southern League, played a double header against the Alcoa Aluminum Sluggers.

Knoxville News-Sentinel - July 4, 1933

The story in the next day's paper shows that the Giants won both of the games.

Knoxville News-Sentinel - July 5, 1933

So where was Leslie Street Park?  From Ronald Allen's book, Same Old Smokies:

The Knoxville Giants, a black Knoxville baseball team, played their games at the Leslie Street Park.  The field was located on Leslie Street, south of Western Avenue and north of University Avenue. The field was long a playing field for local African American teams, and also by neighborhood youngsters.

Google Maps locates it where the Knoxville New-Sentinel building is.  Some of the street names have changed over the years.

Base Ball Park, Knoxville, Tenn.

Over the years I've had the pleasure and privilege of meeting people involved with, or interested in baseball in east Tennessee.  One of those is Walter "Hawkeye" Bates.  I met Hawkeye through his involvement with the Knoxville Holstons Vintage Base Ball Club.  He's a member and I'm a fan.  Several months ago he mentioned to me that he had a photo/postcard of an old baseball ground in Knoxville.  My interest was immediately piqued.

We talked about it off and on through the summer and he finally got tired of me pestering him and sent a photo my way.

I looked through my reference notes and by the date that Hawkeye shares this would most likely be Chilhowee Park Base Ball Park.

I did see a listing on ebay for this postcard and a date of 1913 was attached.  I don't know if that was the date that the postcard was mailed or if there's some other info that indicates that this park was in use that year.  If it does depict a park in 1913 that might have been Caswell Park.

Thanks for sharing this, Hawkeye.  Keep your willow supple.

Knoxville Names Park

I'm starting to do a bit of research into the ballparks of Knoxville.  Here's a start.

Smithson stadium, named after Knoxville Councilman W. N. Smithson, was razed in early 1953.  It was replaced by Knoxville Municipal Stadium in 1953.  In 1957 it was renamed Bill Meyer Stadium in honor of the former player and manager, William Adam Meyer.

The Greensboro Record - May 2, 1957

Knoxville - Baseball Park

The News  (Chattanooga) - June 13, 1904

image from the Chattanooga Public Library

Chilhowee Park Base Ball Park

Ronald A. Allen's Same Old Smokies, an excellent look at the history of baseball in Knoxville, TN (1865-1954), states that several teams played at the Chilhowee Base Ball Park over the years.

Here's an image from a Sanborn Fire Map of Knoxville, Tennessee (1917). It shows the Base Ball Park at Chilhowee Park in east Knoxville.

Here's the same area as shown by Google Maps.

And another image from the Sanborn Fire Maps. This image was taken with the camera on my BlackBerry. The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection will allow non-flash photography when an item is too large to photocopy.

The photo came from this book. I'm still trying to figure out the year references on the Sanborn Fire Maps. This one appears to be 1924, but the books look upgraded, with some dates added here and there as corrections and additions are made.

Note the two Sanborn maps. There is a roller coaster type ride in each of them, but they are different. The first one is labeled "Roller Coaster". The second is labeled "Figure 8". There's also a "Dodge Em" at the 'toe' of the boot shaped lake/pond.

Knoxville Okehs Baseball Park

The Tuscaloosa News - January 13, 1948

images from Google