WEST END PARK by Mike Vance and Presented to the Harris County Historical Commission
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1 An Application for an Official Harris County Historical Marker for WEST END PARK by Mike Vance and presented to the Harris County Historical Commission CONTEXT Houston in 1905 was a growing city that could be considered mostly Southern in nature. It was the completely un-air-conditioned home to fewer than 75,000 people.1 The bustling port operations were primarily located around the foot of Main Street, and city fathers billed their metropolis as “Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea”. The city limits ended in a roughly four-mile square that centered around the site of the Courthouse at Congress and Fannin.2 7 - West End Park 3 – Ballpark at Travis & McGowen Map - 1904 Whitty 1 Morrison and Fourney Directory of Houston 1905; “Seventy Five thousand.” Houston Post 12 March 1905 2 Morrison and Fourney Directory of Houston 1904; P Whitty Map and Street Guide to Houston, 1904 Mike Vance West End Park for HCHC 22 March 2014 2 There is no doubt that baseball was the National Game in the first decade of the twentieth century.3 Football existed in college, and was quite popular, but an all-professional football league was still fifteen years away. Only championship boxing matches garnered the press coverage afforded baseball, and those were hardly everyday occurrences. All sports of the day did share one thing in common: they were vehicles for heavy gambling, and Houston was a hotbed of such activity.4 Much as they would continue to do into the current century, baseball stadiums were also occasional homes to other forms of entertainment. When the circus came to town, it often set up shop at the local ball park. Large conventions sometimes used the grounds, as did major religious revivals. In Houston, the main baseball stadium was the end destination for the annual No-Tsu- Oh parade and the site of the annual football game that was a part of that week’s festivities.5 In spite of the strict racial segregation of the day, the local baseball stadium, though generally white-owned, regularly leased the park for black baseball contests. All games, no matter the race of the competitors, offered separate seating for both black and white patrons. OVERVIEW The 1904 baseball season had been marred by the closure of the longtime professional ball park at Travis and McGowen in mid-season after the landowner decided to develop the six-block parcel into home sites.6 The second half of the schedule saw the majority of the games played on the road, with home games taking place at a converted horse track on Harrisburg Road.7 That site was not deemed viable due to the lack of a nearby street car stop. West End Park was opened at the corner of Andrews and Heiner in Fourth Ward in April 1905 as the home of Houston’s South Texas League baseball club.8 The minor league ball club was most 3 Thorn, John. Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game. Simon & Schuster. 2011. P 133-35. 4 Thorn. P 181-82 5 Houston Post 15 November 1908; “Answers Charge of Professionalism.” Houston Post 14 November 1909 6 Assessor’s Abstract of Town Lots, Harris County, Texas. 1905. p 636 7 “Local Baseball News.” Houston Post 3 July 1904; “No More Ball.” Houston Post 4 August 1904 8 “Work on the New Park.” Houston Post 19 February 1905; “The New Park.” Houston Post 3 March 1905; “It is the First.” Houston Post 1 April 1905; “Bad Beginning.” Houston Post 2 April 1905 NOTE: From 1903-1906 professional Mike Vance West End Park for HCHC 22 March 2014 3 commonly known throughout its history as the Buffaloes, a nickname that had first come into being in 1896, but the franchise was Houston’s first professional sports team, dating to 1888.9 The ball park’s main entrance sat on that corner with the physical plant running to the southeast. This placed Andrews along the third base line, Heiner along the first base line and Howe Street flanking the yard’s left field fence. The land was part of the John Day Andrews tract which had eventually passed to Andrews’ daughter, Eugenia Flewellen.10 She leased the land to the baseball team when the park was built.11 It was part of ten acres which Mr. Andrews had purchased from Jackson Smith, heir of Obedience Fort Smith who had received the patent from the Republic of Texas in 1845 for much of early southwest Houston.12 The ball park property did not run completely flush with Heiner Street. Parts of the street frontage had first been leased and then sold to Franceso Capritto, one of a growing number of Italians who were becoming landowners and landlords in the neighborhood.13 He and fellow immigrant, Vincenzo Polichino, would be West End Park’s neighbors until the park’s demise.14 baseball operated as the North Texas League and the South Texas League. They reunited as the Texas League in 1907. 9 Ruggles, William B.. The History of the Texas League of Professional Baseball Clubs 1888-1951. (Texas Baseball League, 1951) 10 Harris County Deed Records Vol. 30, p 145-48 regarding estate of Eugenia Andrews, dec’d.; Harris County Deed Records Vol. 105, p 186-91 Lilly E Flewellen and estate of Bettie McFarland to Eugenia Flewellen 11 Harris County Contracts 22, p 218-19; “Grandstand is Burned.” Galveston Daily News 6 December 1911 12 Harris County Deed Records, Vol. F, p 235 Jackson Smith to J.D. Andrews 13 Harris County Contracts 27, p 209-10 Lillie E. Flewellen, R.T. Flewellen, Sr to Francesco Capritto; United States Census survey, Harris County, Fourth Ward Houston, 1910 -1920; “With its Rich History, Fourth Ward is Strong in Symbolism.” Houston Chronicle 9 January 2000 A24 14 Harris County Deed Records Vol. 623, p 626 Polichino to Capritto; Harris County Deed Records Vol. 624, p 660 Capritto to Polichino; United States Census 1910. Harris County, Texas. P 234. Mike Vance West End Park for HCHC 22 March 2014 4 Composite map created from Sanborn Fire Maps 1907 The San Felipe street car line, which served the heavily African-American Freedmens Town neighborhood immediately west of the new ball park location, ran along Andrews Street with a stop at the new park. The street car company promised quick service from the heart of downtown. For a city that relied heavily on public transportation, and an ownership that had learned the public transportation lesson the hard way, that was tremendously important.15 The grandstand at West End Park grew over the years, with two partial reconstructions necessitated by natural events. The first was a fire in December 1911.16 Only a few years later, the Hurricane of 1915 destroyed much of the outfield fence and ripped the roof off the grandstand.17 Nearby Antioch Baptist Church lost the top of its steeple, altering the view from West End Park toward downtown. When it opened, the capacity of the park exceeded 3,000 with 15 “Damage Suit Industry Affects the Baseball Devotees.” Houston Post 16 July 1904 16 “New Concrete Grandstand May Rise at West End Park.” Houston Chronicle 5 December 1911; “Grandstand is Burned.” Galveston Daily News 6 December 1911; “Houston Ball Park is Destroyed by Fire.” San Antonio Light 6 December 1911 17 “Houston Ball Grounds Being Made Ready.” San Antonio Light 22 August 1915 Mike Vance West End Park for HCHC 22 March 2014 5 bleacher seats for another 1,500 located down the baselines.18 Certain sought-after games brought almost twice that many people in attendance.19 Today the Pierce Elevated section of Interstate 45 runs through the heart of West End Park’s footprint. The site of left field and much of the outfield wall is covered by a Center Point Energy Power Station with Howe Street still running along the former ball park property line. BACKGROUND Coming off a 1904 season that easily ranks as the one of the barmiest in the city's history, Houston's baseball people understood that securing a new ball park stood alone at the top of the to do list. That urgency was certainly not evident on the pages of the city's press, however. Media in those days were a far cry from the modern 24-hour news cycle, so progress reports on the search for a location were sparse at best. A brief article in early January 1905 telling of the upcoming winter meetings for the South Texas League, meetings that were postponed multiple times, mentioned that Houston’s owner/manager Claud Rielly had secured a new location for his park, but without mentioning where exactly that might be. On January 19, 1905 the Houston Post finally announced that the new Houston baseball park would "be located at the intersection of Heiner and Andrews streets.”20 The park will be “400 feet square and the San Felipe street car line will pass by the gates. The street car management has promised five minute service."21 Perhaps with a remembrance of the previous year's attendance troubles, the article pointed out that the park was six blocks closer to the center of downtown than the old park. 18 “Work at the Park.” Houston Post 21 March 1905; Ankenman, Fred, Sr.. Four Score and More: The Autobiography of Fred N. Ankenman, Sr.. (Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, 1980) p 37; Charter of Houston Base Ball Association filed with Secretary of State of Texas on 21 February 1920 19 “Record Crowd Expected Today.” Houston Chronicle 20 March 1910 20 Houston Post 19 January 1905 21 “Work on the New Park.” Houston Post 19 February 1905 Mike Vance West End Park for HCHC 22 March 2014 6 The property itself covered about four square blocks and was part of several acres that had belonged to the estate of farmer, and early Houston mayor, John Day Andrews.