Wahconah Park - Pittsfield, Massachusetts - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The history of the ca.1892 ballfield at Wahconah Park portrays a continuous pattern of the evolution of organized baseball and other large group leisure activities in small American cities that have provided a recreational environment important for community enjoyment. The ca. 1950 grandstand is an example of small town ballpark design whose simple structure and human-scale proportions have enhanced the recreational activities shared there by community people. Together, the ballfield and grandstand have born silent witness to the creative use of the stadium in Pittsfield as a large open-air location for its citizens to join in civic entertainment and to gather for mutual support in a time of need. While the park has played an important role in the city’s recreational history, it has not been a static one. Rather, the services to which the park has been put have demonstrated its ability to remain a part of the living fabric of the city, adapting itself to functions requiring a large open-air arena...

The first event of any kind that took place at Wahconah Park was a baseball game on 9 August 1892 at 4:05 pm between the semi-professional Albany Gises and a hastily assembled Pittsfield team. The “Pittsfields’ ” convincing win that day and in three successive games played on 13 August, 20 August, and 27 August 1892 would forever pair Wahconah Park and baseball in the minds of Pittsfielders. Although Pittsfield’s entry into the New York State League in 1894 was a short lived association that would be concluded after 30 games, the city’s association with semi-pro leagues starting less than two decades later firmly established professional baseball at Wahconah Park.

Beginning in 1913 and 1914, there was a professional Pittsfield team based at Wahconah associated with a variety of minor leagues over the years. Among the more recent franchises were the Class AA Pittsfield Red Sox (1965-1969), the Pittsfield Senators and Rangers (1970-1975), the Berkshire Brewers affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (1976), the Pittsfield Cubs (1985-1988) of the Eastern League, the Class A Pittsfield Mets (1989-1999) and Pittsfield Astros (2000) of the New York-Penn League, and the Berkshire Black Bears of the independent Northern and Northeast Leagues (2002-2003). On 15 April 1985 NBC’s Gene Shalit hosted the filming of opening day at Wahconah Park as 4,000 fans welcomed the minor league Pittsfield Cubs to their home opener, broadcast on NBC’s Today Show the next morning.

In the early years, Wahconah Park was host to professional African American teams of that era including the Cuban Giants and the Brooklyn Royal Giants who played at Wahconah in the late 1800s. The Boston Red Sox played two games in each of the 1921 and 1922 seasons against the Pittsfield “Hillies”, and again in 1928, with the Hillies winning three. In 1922 Jim Thorpe played baseball at Wahconah against the Pittsfield Hillies, once as a member of the Hartford Senators, and twice with the Worcester Boosters. Lou Gehrig, playing with the Hartford Senators, appeared in five games at Wahconah in 1924. In one, he blasted the ball over the center field fence in a drive that is still a topic of discussion. Charles “Casey” Dillon Stengel, “owner” and player-manager of the Eastern League Worcester team, played baseball at Wahconah Park on four occasions in 1925. One is memorable for Stengel’s banishment from Wahconah Park by the umpire for failing to obey the umpire’s directive to leave the playing field after being called out on strikes...

The first intercollegiate baseball game in history was held in 1859 between Williams and Amherst Colleges, on the corner of Maplewood Avenue and North Street in Pittsfield (NRDIS, 2002). To commemorate the Nation’s Bicentennial, the two colleges recreated the game on 1 June 1976 at Wahconah Park before a crowd of 2,000 fans.