Western Pennsylvania History Spring 2016
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UP FRONT WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA S P ORTS MUSEUM By Craig Britcher, Assistant Curator, Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum At Long Last, a Recreation Park Photo Comes to Light In the late 19th century, Recreation Park stood as Allegheny City's preeminent sporting facility, B OW T ill n<G L0~10US DZPU.T A Pl'&AJIZD l'JIOllf OBSJlllTATOBY DllL-llOD but the inexplicable lack of photographic PICTVBBBQV .& T ftAl.'f 1"1UCTJCAL. evidence was an intriguing mystery among local baseball researchers. Finally, a year ago, Woodcut drawing from the Pltts/Jurg 01spatcl1, which reported a Rec reation Pa rk game as seen th rough a telescope, July 7, 1889. a six-by-nine-inch cyanotype surfaced. The Ptttstx;rg Otspatcb.July 7, 1889,2. \ta newspapoo,rom image was in the John Brashear time capsule, which was entrusted to the History Center soon after being unearthed in a cornerstone The Alleghenys' management changed featuring Sitting Bull. From 1892 to 1894, the of Brashear's demolished optical shop on Union Park's name to Recreation Park in 1885. 1 park was mostly referred to in newsprint as Perrysville Avenue on the North Side. It offers Two years later the team left the American "Three /\s Park" after its lessee, the Allegheny the only view ofRecreation Park's grandstand Association and joined the National League. Athletic Association. In 1892, the park was the amidst its surrounding neighborhood, yet That same season the Pittsburgh Keystones site of the first football game played with a still leaves many unanswered questions. of the short-lived Colored League debuted in paid player. Recreation Park was located a half Recreation Park as the first significant local While examining a high resolution scan mile north of current-day Heinz Field on African American baseball team. By 1891, the of the magnified Brashear time capsule photo Pittsburgh's North Side. The site originated Alleghenys had moved to Exposition Park on (possibly dating from 1894), ballpark historian as Union Skating Park, commonly called the banks of the Allegheny River (between Len Martin made an important observation: Union Park, in 1865. Two years later the today's Heinz Field and PNC Park), where the an apparent gap missing from the grandstand's first baseball games were played there. In team became known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. second tier and roof. The largely wooden two 1876, the Allegheny professional baseball Union/Recreation Park served as much tiered structure, like all the ballparks of its team debuted at Union Park and joined the more than a baseball field- the park hosted era, was vulnerable to fire, structural collapse, International Association the following year sporting, religious, theatrical, and civic and the effects of the elements. Supporting as professionals. A new Alleghenys team events. After the Civil War, citizens packed the thousands of fans in the wooden second tier in the major league American Association, grandstand and celebrated Emancipation Day seems incredibly dangerous by today's safety established in 1882 and led by founding in 1867. In 1883, Alleghenians delighted in the standards. With wind and weather beating owner Denny McKnight, moved into Union spectacles of two iconic traveling shows: P.T. on the park and the architectural integrity Park in 1884. (Interestingly, the site was once Barnum's Traveling Circus with Jumbo the compromised, the grandstand's days were part of his prominent family's holdings.) Elephant and Buffalo Bill's Wild West show numbered. It was dismantled in September 6 W£SHRN P£1 NSYLVA llA HISTORY I SPR ING 2016 1895, a year after the time capsule was sealed.2 From Near Henry Burger's [sic] Obs. Special thanks to local baseball history Thereafter, the grounds are often referred to [Observatory] H.B. [Henry Berger] Photo:' experts Len Martin, Andy Terrick, and Dan Bonk for their consultation and assistance in print as "old Recreation Park:' where the Indeed- an image appearing in an 1889 in studying the time capsule photo. Western University of Pennsylvania (later Pittsburg Dispatch depicted a few people the University of Pittsburgh) played football. watching a game at Recreation Park through Read more about the contents of the Brashear time capsule in the Summer 2016 issue of Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss operated a telescope.3 Western Pennsylvania History. the last permanent sporting structure on In Brashear's posthumous 1924 the grounds, the Colosseum (1902- 1904), autobiography, the telescopic lens pioneer 1 Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, March 5, as a bicycle racing and football venue for recalled his mentor, Smithsonian Secretary 1885, 6. First mentioned in Pittsburgh Post~azette, December 4, 1884, 3. Samuel Langley, fondly: "Ofan afternoon he the Pittsburgh Stars. Use of the grounds 2 Pittsburgh Daily Post, September 15, 1895, 6. diminished by the end of the decade. would come over to my shop to watch the 3 "At Long Range," Pittsburg Dispatch, July 7, 1889, 2. John Brashear's decision to preserve baseball games, as the park was in sight and a • John A. Brashear with Lucien W. Scaife, ed., this photograph may indicate that he was a telescopic view of the game very satisfactory. John A Brashear: The Autobiography ofa Man Who Loved the Stars (New York: American baseball fan himself. His penned caption on I loved Professor Langley as a friend- aye, Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1924), 132. the reverse side reads, "View of Allegheny as a brother:'• G Near Recreation Park Base Ball Grounds. WESHRN PENNS YL VANIA HI STORY I SPR IKG 2016 J .