Central Park (Pittsburgh)

Central Park
Location Wylie Avenue and Humbar Street
Hill District
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owner Alexander M. Williams (1920-25)
Sell Hall (1925)
Surface grass
Construction
Opened Summer 1920
Demolished 1925
Architect Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger
Tenants
Sell Hall’s American Giants (Ind.) (1920)
Pittsburgh Keystones (NNL) (1921-1922)

Central Park was a baseball venue located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1921-1925. The stadium was the first black-owned, controlled and managed baseball park in the city.

Located at the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Humber Street, served as the home of the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Negro National League. Officially named Central Amusement Park, the field's construction was commissioned in 1920 by Keystones' owner Alexander M. Williams and was designed by the prominent African-American architect, Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger, who would later design Greenlee Field for the Pittsburgh Crawfords.[1][2]

After the Keystones folded after their 1922 season, Williams lost his savings, and by 1924 he had sold the park to Sell Hall. Central Park was sold again and turned into a “summer dancing pavilion.”[3]

In 2012, Central Park was denied an historical marker by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. According to the Commission, the venue was seen as a local or regional interest rather than a national and the state already had several other markers commemorating the Negro leagues.[4]


References

  1. Ashwill, Gary (2006-05-07). "Pittsburgh's Central Park". Retrieved 2012-04-07.
  2. Tannler, Albert M. (2006-05-07). "Pittsburgh's African-American Architect Louis Bellinger and the New Granada Theater". Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  3. Ashwill, Gary (2009-09-09). "Central Park, Pittsburgh 1920-1925". Retrieved 2012-04-07.
  4. Ashwill, Gary (December 28, 2012). "Pittsburgh Keystones". Retrieved August 6, 2015.


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