Compton Park

Compton Park was the home of the St. Louis Red Stockings during their brief stint in the National Association in 1875. The view above is an artist's rendering of a bird's-eye view, published in 1875 as part of a full survey of St. Louis at that time. The park is marked by the number 4 in the center of the field. Joan Thomas reports in St. Louis' Big League Ballparks that the park held about 1000 people, but that 4000 people were reported to have watched a game there hosted by a champion African American club, the St. Louis Black Stocking, in June 1883.

The first park was built for the 1874 season. In late March, the club secured property near the Pacific Railroad machine shop, at the corner of Compton and Gratiot, for a ball field. The park was a five minute walk from the Market street cars and a ten minte walk from the Olive street cars.

The grounds in question have been laid out and are enclosed by a high fence, a neat little club-house having also been erected at the main entrance.

Covered stands for the accomodaion of the fair sex have also been built, and it is the intention of those having the enterprise in hand to make the field first class in every respect.

The grounds, which have been leveled off and rolled, are in good condition for playing purposes, and the absence of grass on the infield will materially help the fielders as soon as the ground hardens a litle. The field can be reached by the Market street cars, the Chouteau avenue cars and the Blue Line.
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 27, 1874, pg. 4.)

Red Stockings Park was scheduled for its first game on April 23, 1874 against the Chicago White Stockings, of the National Association, who came to St. Louis for two weeks to play games against the local clubs as a tune up for their season. The game that day was played at the Grand Avenue park, as the Compton field was too wet to use. The Reds lost by a score of 6-0. An error by Redmond in the sixth led to four of the runs. The next game of the series was on April 27 at Red Stockings Park. It was called after two innings because of rain, with the White Stockings leading 4-1. After the two aborted attempts, the first complete game at Red Stockings Park was finally played on April 30, against the White Stockings. The Reds lost 31-10.

The St. Louis Red Stocking came into being in 1873, playing most of the known games at the Grand Avenue grounds. The field there was used by many clubs, with each club reserving certain days of the week for practice. Games may have been difficult to schedule on weekends. One assumes Red Stockings Park was built to provide the club with the ability to schedule games at its convenience. It was also used by other clubs during the season, and over the years hosted other events besides baseball.

The grounds that Red Stockings Park were located on were not owned by the club; they were leased by Thomas McNeary. In May, 1880, McNeary told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was the sole lessee on the proprty and that he owmed the improvements (meaning the stands and building). (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 18, 1880, pg. 5) While his first association with the club isn't seen in the newspapers until late in 1874, it is reasonable to assume that he was the primary owner already at the start of the season if not from the start in 1873.

The park was known as Red Stockings Park until 1885, when it was renamed Compton Park. It was torn down in 1898. The site is now a Bi-State (Metro) repair facility, just west of the Compton Avenue viaduct and south of Spruce.

A site just north of Red Stockings Park, at Compton and North Market, was later used by several Negro League clubs during the 1920's and 1930's, including the 1928 NNL Champion St. Louis Stars. The park there was known as Stars Park. This site is now owned by Harris-Stowe college.

The image is taken from Compton and Dry's Pictorial St. Louis, published in 1875. I scanned this image from a reproduction in "Diamonds: The Evolution of the Ballpark" by Michael Gershman (1993). His book is a wonderful discussion of the ballpark through the years, with plenty of focus on the fields used as baseball developed from an ametuer pasttime into the full business. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how baseball and the baseball field developed hand in hand.