Gunther Park
Gunther Park (now Chase Park) was a semi-professional baseball park in Chicago, Illinois. The field site was a large block bounded by North Ashland Avenue (west, home plate); Hills Court (north, left field); buildings and North Clark Street (east, center field); and Leland Avenue (south, right field) and was built in 1905. It was just 11 blocks north of the eventual site of Wrigley Field, and held a capacity of approximately 5,000.
Gunther Park, c. 1913 | |
| Location | Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Surface | grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1905 |
| Closed | 1913 |
| Tenants | |
| Gunther Nine (1905-1913) Chicago Green Sox (1912) | |
A handful of local amateur football and baseball games were played at the location in late autumn of 1904, the first being held on November 2.[Chicago Tribune, November 3, 1904, p. 8] The venue was initially called "Gunther's Park".
After housing the Gunther Nine of the Chicago City League and the Chicago Green Sox of the outlaw and short-lived United States Baseball League, as well as many other local amateur sporting events, the site was redeveloped in 1920. It was converted into a recreational park for the benefit of the Ravenswood district, with tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, baseball fields, soccer fields, and pools. It was renamed in honor of Salmon P. Chase.[Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1920, p. 17]