West Side Park & West Side Grounds

[alpineinc]

Thanks to Milladrive for merging my recent posts with a long lost thread about these Chicago parks, both home to the Cubs franchise.

A quick refresher: There were two incarnations, West Side Park I (1885-1891) when they were known as the White Stockings and then the Colts. From 1891-1892, the Colts switched to South Side Park, then when West Side Park II (1893-1915) opened in 1893, they split that season West and South, then to West Side Park full time in 1894 (South Side Park would then be the home of the White Sox in 1901). The Colts became the Orphans in 1898, then finally the Cubs in 1902. Also, from what I can gather, the second incarnation was called both "Park" and "Grounds", but maybe someone has more info than I can provide. Got all that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Park

Anyhoo, here's some nice photos to get the thread going again.


1902, Dusty Rhodes of the Cleveland Bronchos batting.




Cubs/Sox exhibition, 1905.




1906 Series




1908, expanded left side grandstand




1908, with rooftop bleachers (Wrigley prototype!)




August 30, 1908


Largest size


Also 1908

[alpineinc]

New RF billboard, 1910




1910




1912 "City Series", non-sepia version of previously posted pic.




1916, Buffalo Bill Wild West show (after Cubs left for the greener pastures of Weeghman Park)

[alpineinc]

Christy Mathewson, NY Giant, in for a Cubs series. Source says 1905, but uniform appears to be from 1911.



http://www.legendaryauctions.com/Lot...x?lotid=117793

[Philtration]

Site of West Side Park in Chicago...



And the site of West Side Grounds...

[milladrive]

Wow, some really great stuff! I love when ballparks are all but forgotten until someone here pulls them out of their cap. Thanks, alpineinc!

[Chevy114]

Wow great shots, any idea how many people could fit in it?

[milladrive]

Although they could be mistaken, my records have only one variation for each park. After the Union Base Ball Grounds (White Stockings, AA, 1871) and the 23rd Street Grounds (White Stockings, AA, 1874-1875; White Stockings, NL, 1876-1877), the franchise moved to Lake Front Park (White Stockings, 1978-1884).

Which brings me to this thread. According to my records, West Side Park hosted the White Stockings/Colts 1885-1891. In 1891, the Colts split their home games between West Side Park and South Side Park [II]. Chicago's West Side Grounds hosted the Colts'/Orphans'/Cubs' home games from 1893 through 1915, but, correct me if I'm wrong, unless there was a fire or reconstruction I'm unaware of during those years, I think there was only one variation of the West Side Grounds.

Heh, all this without checking Wikipedia. As a S-O-M person, I'm pretty sure my database of ballparks is as comprehensive as possible. But of course, like anything, it's possible I've overlooked something.

Either way, thanks again alpineinc for these pics. Although I hadn't realized it until now, there was indeed already a thread dedicated to West Side Grounds, located in the Baseball Photography forum. I've taken the liberty of moving that thread into the Ballparks forum and merging it with this one.

As well, at least for the time being, I'm letting the two parks remain in the same thread, if only because the only pics of West Side Park are the fine ones posted by Philtration of the property as it is today. If anyone finds a pic or has something to add to the topic of West Side Park, I'll consider splitting the thread for each park to have its own. In the meantime, both parks have their rightful separation in the Forum Index.

Wow great shots, any idea how many people could fit in it?

According to Bill Burgess' records, the original capacity was 16,000.

[milladrive]

Evidently, there's some dispute as to whether the "West Side Grounds" were also known as the second "West Side Park." This could indeed be true. In fact, after some legwork, it appears it may be true after all. Until I know for sure, however, I'll continue to refer to the second West Side Park as West Side Grounds, if only for the purpose of distinguishing between the two parks. I wish, with all the above photos of the latter, there were some indication of its rightful moniker.

Anyway, courtesy of an SOM website, I stumbled across this colorized pic of West Side Park, circa late 1880s.

West Side Park, Chicago IL.png

[alpineinc]

Appears to be Greasy Neal, 1913.



http://www.lelands.com/Auction/Aucti...ion-(4)?page=2

[alpineinc]

August 30, 1908



1713x700

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007663792/

[SultanOfWhat]

Are you ready for 1,152 photos of West Side Grounds? 'Cause here they are:

http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=&fa=Sub...%29&st=gallery


These aren't full-sized LOC scans, but they give a good impression of the park throughout the seasons.

Here are 6 images together to give an idea of their clarity.