Opened in 1865 as a skating center, the park was adapted for baseball use in 1867. and was later expanded with wooden grandstands to allow up to 17,000 spectators. After the Alleghenys moved a few blocks south in 1890, the main tenant became the
Allegheny Athletic Association, and the grounds would eventually be referred to as
3A Park. After the turn of the 20th century, it was converted to a
velodrome called the
Coliseum. In 2001, the
Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates built stadiums not far from this site.
Baseball In the late 1860s and early 70s, Pittsburgh was home to three local amateur baseball teams—the Enterprise Club, the Xanthas, and the Olympics—which played most of their games Union Park. In 1876, the professional
Allegheny club played its first game against Xantha at Union Park, winning 7–3. The team posted a record of 18–37 at home that season, finishing 11th in the league. The ballpark was used as a neutral site for one game in the
1885 World Series and for one game in the
1887 World Series. In 1887, owner
William A. Nimick transferred the club into the National League, Legend has it that, before opening game of the 1887 season, Pittsburgh's catcher
Fred Carroll buried his pet monkey beneath home plate.
Football On November 12, 1892, the Allegheny Athletic Association football team defeated the
Pittsburgh Athletic Club in the first known American football game to feature a professional player. The team had hired
Pudge Heffelfinger, an
all-American guard from
Yale, for $500. Decades later, the
Pro Football Hall of Fame discovered a page torn from an 1892 account ledger prepared by Allegheny manager
O. D. Thompson with the line item: "Game performance bonus to W. Heffelfinger for playing (cash) $500." In 1902, a Pirates-backed football team, the
Pittsburgh Stars of the
first National Football League, played its home games at the field. The Stars would win the league's only championship against the
Philadelphia Athletics, 11–0, at the field. The
Western University of Pennsylvania (WUP)
football team played their first game of the 1898 season at Recreation Park, defeating Westminster 5–0. Though WUP played some games at Exposition Park as early as 1900, games were hosted at Recreation Park until the University signed an exclusive contract with Exposition Park in 1904. '' in August 1883
Cycling Pirates owner
Barney Dreyfuss secured a lease on the park in 1901 to block the upstart
American League from establishing a competing baseball franchise in Pittsburgh. To monetize the grounds, Dreyfuss installed a modern bicycle track to be used for
motor-paced races featuring the stars of the sport. Baseball umpire and boxing referee
Tim Hurst managed the facility, The venture proved a failure: Cycling did not catch on as a spectator sport, and although the stadium found alternative use as a football venue, there was not enough football to bring sufficient revenue, and
Dave Berry, the owner of the upstart professional football team signed to fill dates at the Coliseum (the
Pittsburgh Stars), made several key errors that alienated Pittsburgh residents and kept attendance at Stars games below original projections. Dreyfuss let the lease expire in April 1904. The track was torn down and the grounds turned back over to the owners.
Other uses Beyond simply major sporting events, the park often also doubled as a venue for circuses, carnivals, various ethnic and holiday celebrations, and track meets. Before the Exposition grounds were used for major gatherings, Union Park was a main local gathering place that could easily and closely accommodate large crowds for exhibitors. Popular national figures such as
Adam Forepaugh and
P. T. Barnum would hold their shows here, spending up to three days before moving off to one-night shows in smaller towns. The park sat next to the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway. Recreation Park has a reference in the city directory as late as 1914, but the open land was soon covered over by various industrial buildings, since the early 1900s. ==Notes==