  Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1659 Registered: 03-2006 |
i played some ball today at the park in hamtramck where keyworth stadium is. When i walked behind the football field i noticed massive grandstands surrounded by fence. I know the Stars played there in the 30's, does anyone know if this is remnants of the old stadium? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3502 Registered: 10-2003 |
You seemed to have answered your own question. Or else I'm not sure what you are asking, but yes, that is Keyworth Stadium. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1664 Registered: 03-2006 |
the grandstands seem like a ruin. they are behind the football stadium in the outfield of what was a baseball field, and the grandstands are pretty big and surrounded by a tall fence. I'm into baseball history so this is really intriguing to me (Message edited by chi-taku on October 23, 2007) | ||
Jerrytimes Member Username: Jerrytimes Post Number: 56 Registered: 04-2007 |
Can we get some pictures?? | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1665 Registered: 03-2006 |
sadly i dont own a camera at the time. I cant find any online but it is sort of hidden behind the football field | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1913 Registered: 04-2005 |
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Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3503 Registered: 10-2003 |
I thought you meant the football stadium. The baseball stands are part of Veteran's Memorial Park. They extended farther along the baselines at one time:  | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 131 Registered: 11-2006 |
right next to the ruins of the Hockey rink | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1666 Registered: 03-2006 |
crazy thanks mike. Is this where the stars played? | ||
Cherry Member Username: Cherry Post Number: 15 Registered: 09-2004 |
It might be the same field, though I've been told that this grandstand was built by the WPA in the '40s. The Stars only played in Hamtramck for a few years after a fire at Mack field. I'm not positive, but I don't think the dates overlap. Local legend is that Babe Ruth watched Negro League baseball in Hamtramck, and drank at the Merry-Go-Round on Joseph Campau next to the park on the south side. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1667 Registered: 03-2006 |
wpa? is this the wpa from the new deal? Were these stands for the high school? Either way this was a pretty impressive ruin that really got to me. The stands are pretty big | ||
Cherry Member Username: Cherry Post Number: 16 Registered: 09-2004 |
Yep, that's the same WPA. President Roosevelt attended the dedication of Keyworth Stadium, also built by the WPA. (Artwork at the post office and underground bathrooms on Joseph Campau were also WPA projects.) As Mikem alluded to, the public school owns the Conant side of the park, and the City owns the Joseph Campau side. The grandstand is owned by the city. The structure was evaluated about a year ago, and there was some talk of tearing it down or trying to incorporate pieces of it into a band shell. I don't believe those ideas are being pursued now. Hamtramck won the Little League championship several times in the 50's, so it may have been used for those games. | ||
Leland_palmer Member Username: Leland_palmer Post Number: 406 Registered: 08-2004 |
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Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3507 Registered: 10-2003 |
I see that a few web sites claim that the Stars played at Keyworth, but I think they are confusing the football stadium (Keyworth) with the baseball field. Apparently the WPA built the stands for the baseball park as well (although I thought the WPA was disbanded before 1940), but the field might have been there well before the stands were built. Perhaps that is when the Stars played there. | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2007 |
I used to ride my bike thru there next to the RR and occasionally check out random soccer matches at Keyworth, almost all the participant of mid east decent. Then the school board got this great idea about installing some expensive astroturf, which got much media attention in The Citizen. The astroturf went in and so did the padlocks...no more random soccer games. Rather depressing. It's been a while since I've been back there. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 952 Registered: 10-2003 |
The WPA was definitely active in 1940 - Detroit had at least one WPA band at the time, led by violinist Leroy Smith, which included future Motown icon Maurice King. According to Richard Bak in Turkey Stearnes and the Detroit Stars, after Mack Park burned down in 1929 a new park was built in Hamtramck "bounded by Gallagher, Roosevelt, Jacob, and Conant. The Calvert Coal Co. bounded the north wall of the stadium, while tracks of the Grand Trunk Railroad...ran between the south end of the park and the (Dodge Main) factory." | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 312 Registered: 04-2006 |
Cherry, underground bathrooms on Joseph Campau? I'm intrigued. Tell me more. | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2007 |
Always wanted to know the exact location of Mack Park. Anyone?? | ||
Cherry Member Username: Cherry Post Number: 17 Registered: 09-2004 |
Richard Bak may have been describing Keyworth stadium. The school administration building and a large parking lot are on the North side of Keyworth now. I have a feeling that was Calvert Coal. Someone who has taken Greg Kowalski's tour will have to help me out with the exact location of the bathrooms, but they were on the West side of JC somewhere between Poland and Evaline. There are trees on the South of the side street, and the sidewalk is wide on the North side, but there are no trees. That's where the bathrooms are. Apparently, underground bathrooms were a terrible idea because they were soon filled with sand and covered over. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 953 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ref. Bak once again, Mack Park was at Mack and Fairview Ave. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 954 Registered: 10-2003 |
There is no mention of Keyworth in the discussion of the Hamtramck site. Perhaps it was a 'local' name, or named after the Stars went out... Bak is pretty thorough, doubt he'd have missed Keyworth. You can contact him through WSU Press. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3508 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks Jim...maybe I was thinking of the CCC. The streets given in Bak's description of the site boundaries would describe Keyworth, not the baseball field. However the Calvert Coal Co was located on Jos Campau just south of Goodson (where the historical markers are now), and if its property stretched back far enough to the east, it would run up against the baseball park's boundaries. The baseball stadium's entrance appears to be on Dan Street. According to a 1935 directory I have, at 2969 Dan Street was something called Roesink's Stadium. I think this is where the Stars played after Mack Park burned. The WPA came along in 1940 and built or enlarged the stands, but somehow the history of the two stadiums is crossed. Mack Park was bounded by Mack, Fairview, Goethe, and Beniteau. | ||
Cherry Member Username: Cherry Post Number: 18 Registered: 09-2004 |
Thanks, Mikem! I obviously have a lot to learn about industrial Hamtramck. The entrance on Dan Street was used for a car show last summer. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 955 Registered: 10-2003 |
Roesink had a financial interest in the Stars, he built the stadium in Hamtramck. | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6422 Registered: 10-2003 |
Here's a few maps from the Sandborn collection...  Mack Park - 1929 (Fairview is on the left)  Keyworth Stadium  The Ball Park off Dan St. It is simply listed in Sandborn as: "Hamtramck Park & Stadium - Ball Park". I couldn't find the Calvert Coal Co. bordering either park, but the Hamtramck Garbage Disposal Plant was incorporated into the Ballpark. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3509 Registered: 10-2003 |
So: 1929, Mack Park burns. 1929, Roesink builds new baseball park in Hamtramck. The Waterwinterwonderland website has a reference to Roesink Stadium having a dirt oval for car racing in 1933-1934 - maybe after the collapse of the Negro League? 1935, WPA builds Keyworth football stadium. 1941, someone (WPA or City of Hamtramck?) builds or enlarges stands at Roesink Stadium: http://www.hamtramckhistory.or g/?q=node/17 AIW, what year is that last Sanborn? There are several websites which claim the Stars played at Keyworth, but I think they are propagating each other's misinformation. | ||
Edziu Member Username: Edziu Post Number: 13 Registered: 07-2007 |
The underground restroom was on the NW corner of Florian ave. and Jos. Campau. I was a safety boy on that corner occasionally to assist St. Florian students crossing Campau. The majority of students however crossed at Campau and Holbrook where a policeman by the name of Officer James was also posted. I would warm up in the restroom on cold winter mornings since there was not much activity. Came upon a sleeping derelict from time to time but never had a problem. Another good place to keep warm was the recessed store entrance of Helen's Toyland which was located adjacent to the holbrook alley on the north side. It is now a parking lot for Rite Aid. This has nothing to do with Keyworth. Just had a flashback as I read the forum. | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6423 Registered: 10-2003 |
Mike the map is a Dec. 1949 Revision. The previous map is dated 1915, and shows the Detroit Lumber Co. (Hamtramck Yard) on the site. J. Calvert's Son's Fuel & Builders Supply yard, is located on the rail spur. Interesting to note, Dan Ave. was renamed from Metropolitan Ave. as noted on the map. In 1915, it was known as Tyler. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4474 Registered: 10-2004 |
quote: What then was the structure south of the first-base stands? It's labeled COAL. Was that also for the garbage works? | ||
Tammypio Member Username: Tammypio Post Number: 159 Registered: 04-2005 |
OMG..Helen's Toyland!! I just had a major flashback too! Those were the days of looking in the store window with lots of hopes and wishes as Christmas Eve and Santa's visit approached. Thanks for the memory! | ||
Paczki Member Username: Paczki Post Number: 35 Registered: 02-2007 |
http://info.detnews.com/redesi gn/history/story/historytempla te.cfm?id=53 | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6424 Registered: 10-2003 |
Sorry, I cut off the rail spur in the photo above. Calvert was located much north of the stadium, it appears that it never touched the stadium. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3510 Registered: 10-2003 |
^ Even that Detroit News story says that the Stars played the first night baseball game in the Detroit area at Keyworth in 1930, but the stadium wasn't built until 1935-1936. The dedication marker for the lighting system at the stadium is dated 1949. Bad information about its history is getting circulated among various websites. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 956 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks for the maps, AIW...and the info, Mikem. And for starting the thread, Chitaku. I'm going to visit the site. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1675 Registered: 03-2006 |
i'm glad this thread took off. this ruin was really eerie but really cool | ||
Stinger4me Member Username: Stinger4me Post Number: 110 Registered: 08-2007 |
There was a coal yard just south of the viaduct on Joseph Campau. I think it may have been a Mistele Coal yard in the late 50's early 60's. There were two sets of tracks which crossed Jos. Campau and the coal yard was tucked in between them. |
