Site of Ridgewood Park (Wallace's Grounds)
513 Irving Avenue | Bushwick | built 1960
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1885
The first game is played at William Wallace's new Ridgewood Park
Along Irving Avenue once lay Ridgewood Park, a ballpark also called the Wallace Grounds. William Wallace bought the land in 1884, and the first game on it was played on April 5, 1885, with the Brooklyn Atlantics meeting the Ridgewoods before a reported 3,000 fans. The ballpark sat within an entertainment area bounded by Wyckoff Avenue, Covert Street, Halsey Street and Irving Avenue, on the southwest side of the Montauk Branch tracks of the Long Island Rail Road.
“The land that would become Wallace's Ridgewood Park was purchased by William Wallace in 1884. On April 5, 1885, the first game was played between the Brooklyn Atlantics and the Ridgewoods…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1887
Brooklyn's major-league club plays Sunday games here to dodge the blue laws
From 1887 to 1889 the Brooklyn Grays/Bridegrooms, the club later known as the Dodgers, used the ballpark that stood here strictly for Sunday games, since playing and charging admission in Brooklyn on the Sabbath invited enforcement. The grounds were then in Queens County, beyond the reach of Brooklyn's Sabbath enforcers, and the park held 10,000 in 1887. In 1890 the Brooklyn Gladiators played their whole schedule here.
“The Dodgers had used it strictly for Sunday games, to get around Brooklyn's blue laws. ... The park had a capacity of 10,000 in 1887.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1917
Fire destroys the grandstand and sends the Bushwicks to Dexter Park
The ballpark's grandstand burned on September 19, 1917, and the semipro Brooklyn Bushwicks moved to Dexter Park for 1918. Wallace apparently meant to subdivide and sell the land that year, but he rebuilt, and the property was not sold until 1927. The park shrank over time but stayed in use.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1947
Branch Rickey watches the Dodgers drill at Grand Stadium
By the 1940s the ballpark was known as Grand Stadium. According to a February 26, 1947 Eagle report, Branch Rickey came to watch 20 Dodgers who had been lured by contract offers from the Mexican promoter Pasquel, plus 30 other Dodgers, go through a long drill. Wikipedia calls this passing reference inconclusive, but suggests the team briefly returned to a park it had used decades earlier.
“The Eagle reported on February 26, 1947, that Branch Rickey "looked refreshed on his arrival at Grand Stadium to watch the 20 who had been tempted…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1959
Grand Stadium is replaced by industrial buildings
Gradually reduced in size, the old ballpark outlasted the Bushwicks' departure and was used for soccer and other sports under the name Grand Stadium. In 1959 industrial buildings replaced it.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Ridgewood Park (baseball ground)Wikipedia
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