Classroom

Charles J. Strobel, a native of Sandusky, Ohio, financed the park. Most of Strobel's wealth came from his oil businesses. Strobel's love for sports, especially Toledo baseball, pushed him to scout out a new location for the recently purchased Toledo Base Ball Club. Football arrived at the stadium in 1902 with the Toledo Athletic Association. The team would form another team called the Toledo Maroons in 1906. The Maroons provided experience to the younger players, also known as a farm team. The Toledo Athletic Association would stop playing on the field in 1906, and the park would stop allowing the Maroons to play in 1908. The park would complain that the football cleats would tear up the grass field. The Toledo Maroons would play in the Ohio League until 1921 when the team joined the new American Professional Football Association. However, poor attendance and tough opponents forced the team to move to Wisconsin and ultimately disbanding in 1924.The Park itself stayed in operation until 1909 when Swayne Field replaced the park. Swayne Field had double the seating and would serve as Toledo's outdoor sports center. The building stood unoccupied till 1934, where a fire destroyed the building. The Auto-Lite strike and riots that followed led to the fire that consumed the old stadium.

"Sunday Baseball at Armory Field," (Cincinnati Commercial Tribune),  15 July, 1897, p.2.

"Toledo Assured of New Federal Home," (New Philadelphia Daily Times), 02 Nov 1928, p. 11.

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Constructed on May 29, 1897, Armory Park became a popular attraction for the city of Toledo. The park housed several sports teams, including the Toledo Athletic Association football team. The park also housed the Toledo Mud Hens. The Toledo Athletic Association lasted from 1902 till 1906, where the team moved locations. However, another football team under the Toledo Athletic Association called the Toledo Maroons, a professional football team, took up residence in the park. The Maroons played in the Ohio League between 1902 until 1921. However, the team only played on the Armory Park field until 1908. The Armory Park is the first Toledo ballpark that photographs have to know to survive. Fire and arson destroyed most of Armory Park in 1934. The city demolished the rest of the park a few years later. Today space is occupied by the Toledo Municipal Courthouse.

Armory Park (demolished)

This trail takes people though the various locations of the Ohio League, a forerunner to the National Football League

Idora Park, first named Terminal Park, was built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company in 1899 as a “trolley park” at the terminus of a trolley line. Located adjacent to Mill Creek Park on the outskirts of the city, Idora Park provided a picturesque escape from the pollution of the steel mills and congestion of the city. The park had no admission fee, so anyone who could afford the streetcar fare could enter the park. Idora first housed a dance hall and theater but quickly expanded in the early 1900s to include arcade games, a carousel, and the “Grand Ballroom” that attracted national acts such as John Philip Sousa, Guy Lombardo, and Cab Calloway. With the addition of a roller coaster in 1903, the park became a major regional attraction that competed with nearby Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland and Kennywood outside of Pittsburgh. By the 1920s, the original 7-acre plot of land had grown to about 28 acres and sports had become a noteworthy attraction. Major League teams, including the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Boston Red Sox, played exhibition games at Idora Park, which had the only fenced-in baseball field in the city. As more African Americans moved to Youngstown to work in the steel mills, the park became a frequent stop for the Negro Leagues as well. The installation of the Jack Rabbit and Wild Cat roller coasters, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a Ferris wheel, and a larger carousel spurred significant growth in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Idora became known as “Youngstown’s Million Dollar Park” as people of all classes, ages, and races flocked to the park for affordable entertainment in the midst of the Great Depression and World War II rationing. The post-war affluence of the 1950s ushered in new changes and increased prosperity. The ballroom was remodeled and began hosting sock-hops, Kiddieland was built over the pool to attract baby boomer families, and modern highways allowed increased traffic. The shift toward attracting a younger generation continued in the 1960s as Idora began hosting rock bands such as the Eagles and The Monkees, charging admission for the first time, and re-theming attractions to fit the psychedelic trends of the time. The expansion of television and air conditioning, the rise of gas prices, and the closing of steel mills in the 1970s caused a sharp decline in attendance, and Idora Park struggled financially throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. A catastrophic fire on April 26, 1984 destroyed the park’s major attractions and drastically impacted attendance, which led to Idora closing at the end of the 1984 season. After its closure in 1984, items were auctioned off and Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church in Youngstown bought the property with plans to build a religious complex called “City of God.” This complex never materialized as the church lost the property after accumulating massive debt. The Idora Park Historical Society succeeded in having the park added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, but this designation did little to help its preservation as the remaining structures on the property were vandalized or destroyed. However, the memory of Idora Park lives through the few surviving structures and artifacts. The Idora Park Merry-Go-Round can still be enjoyed in Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York. After the park’s closure, the carousel was relocated to Brooklyn where it was restored and opened to the public in 2011 as Jane’s Carousel. The Idora Park Experience in Canfield, Ohio gives visitors the opportunity to reminisce over a collection of ride cars, signage, and other artifacts, the result of a 25-year endeavor by Jim and Toni Amey to collect bits of their childhoods and preserve the memory of a beloved local attraction.<div> </div>

Built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company, Idora Park was an urban amusement park with Colonial Revival, Moderne, and Italianate architecture in Youngstown, Ohio. After opening on Memorial Day in 1899, the park experienced rapid success in the first half of the 20th century and became a major regional attraction with rides, a ballroom, and a fenced-in baseball field. Economic changes in the 1970s and a devastating fire on April 26, 1984 led to Idora Park shuttering its doors at the end of the 1984 summer season. The land remains unused but surviving artifacts can be found in Canfield, Ohio and Brooklyn, New York.

Idora Park (1899-1984)

The new stadium is named in honor of&nbsp;New Orleans Saints owner, Tom Benson, who donated $11 million
to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. $10 million of that donation was directed to
the construction of the stadium which will replace Fawcett Stadium,&nbsp;demolished in the spring of 2015. The stadium will be
in the exact same location as its predecessor which is just steps away from the
walls of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.This location has been home to a stadium since&nbsp;1924. Numerous professional teams played at this stadium, but only&nbsp;one team has played its games here&nbsp;since the beginning-the Canton McKinley High School Bulldogs. Other
teams that have called the stadium home were the Lincoln High School&nbsp;Lions from 1926–1975, Lehman High School&nbsp;Polar Bears from 1932–1975, GlenOak High School&nbsp;Golden
Eagles from 1975–2006, and the Timken High School&nbsp;Trojans from 1976–2014. Also two local Division ll
college teams; Walsh University and Malone University have used the field for
their games. In addition, the stadium&nbsp;hosted the 2009 and 2015 IFAF World Championship
game.The stadium has been home to the&nbsp;Pro Football Hall of fame game for many years, a game that&nbsp;kicks off the NFL
preseason every year on the Sunday after the Hall of Fame inductions. The game
attracts football fans from all over as a team from the AFC and NFC square off.
The match-up is selected by the league and typically announced upon the same
time the Hall of Fame inductees are announced during super bowl week! It’s also
not uncommon for the league to select a team that has a connection to a notable
inductee that year.

Construction of Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium began in the spring of 2015 and should be completed by 2017. Prior to renovation and reconstruction, Fawcett Stadium stood at this location and hosted numerous historic games, including the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame game. The original stadium at this location dates back to the 1920s, an era when Canton and many other area cities had their own pro football team.

Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium

Construction of League Park finished in 1906 as a former American football and baseball stadium. There were two iterations of League Park that served the local sports teams. The most famous team to take up residence in these stadiums was the Akron Pros, a football team. Originally called the Akron Indians and dated back to 1908. The Akron Indians did not have a home field until the name change and the construction of League Park. The earlier Akron Indians went on to win the Ohio League Championship in 1908, 1909, 1913, and 1914. The Akron Indians gain a reputation for preferring to pass the ball and playing a style of football that mimicked college football. After devastating financial losses from 1912 to 1919, the team was forced to sell to Art Ranney, a wealthy Akron businessman and former University of Akron football player, and Frank Nied, a cigar store proprietor in 1920. Ranney and Nied changed the name to the Pros and joined the American Professional Football Association, a forerunner league of the NFL. The two co-owners would also sign Fritz Pollard to become the first African-American coach in the NFL. The parks themselves would later be abandoned and demolished. Both sites are now home to local businesses.

League Park refers to former American football and baseball stadiums in Akron, Ohio. League Park opened in 1906 and became the home of the Akron Pros football team in 1916. The 5,000-seat stadium also featured the Akron Yankees of the Middle Atlantic League. The Akron Pros called the park home for a decade until 1926. The city of Toledo replaced League Park with a second League Park in 1926. The second park featured a sharp drop-off directly behind the left-field fence. Outfielders used the lower fence as a ramp to catch fly balls, while ground balls hit to the fence could roll up and over the fence. A new rule was enacted that declared balls that rolled over the fence a ground-rule double, rather than a home run.

Old League Park

Ingersoll sold the park to paving contractor, Matthew Bramley in 1910. The park itself thrived until the beginning of the Prohibition in America. The availability of Alcohol proved to be the biggest attraction to the park. One of the main attractions for the park was the stadium, nicknamed the Luna Bowl. The stadium could seat 20,000 fans and became the home to a few early football teams in Ohio. The Cleveland Bulldogs and the Cleveland Panthers would use the stadium as a home field. The disbanded Youngstown Patricians gave way to the Cleveland Panthers football team in 1919 from the remains of the Youngstown Patricians football team. Despite early success and winning their first three games, the Panthers quickly found themselves struggling to attract fans to the game. The Panthers struggled to find opponents after 1926 and disbanded in 1933. The Cleveland Bulldogs were founded in 1923 and used to be called the Indians. However, after the owner, Samuel Deutsch purchased the Canton Bulldogs and merged the teams, the name Bulldogs stuck. The Bulldogs relocated to Detroit in 1928 to become the Wolverines, and would later be incorporated into the New York Giants in 1929.The troubles faced by the football teams also followed mirrored by the park. Prohibition dealt a serious blow to the attendance of the park, but the Great Depression was the final nail in the coffin for the park. The park closed its doors for the final time in 1929. The unattended park became the target of several incidences of arson, including the fire that destroyed the football stadium. The city of Cleveland demolished the remaining rides in 1931 and replaced the park with the Woodhill Homes housing project in 1940.

Luna Park opened in 1905 as the second in an international chain of amusement parks, created and financed by Frederick Ingersoll. Ingersoll made his living being an American entrepreneur who created the world's first chain of amusement parks. The park featured a carousel, a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, a dance hall, and a massive stadium. The stadium housed two football teams, the Cleveland Panthers and Cleveland Bulldogs. Both teams played in the Ohio League, a forerunner to the National Football League. Unfortunately, the park struggled to stay afloat during Prohibition and the Great Depression. The park no longer stands as fire and arson destroyed most of the park, while the city dismantled the remaining rides. The housing Complex Woodhill Homes now sits on the spot where the park used to reside. 

Luna Park (demolished) 

When the park opened in 1891, it had only 9000 wooden seats. It was rebuilt for the 1910 season as a concrete-and-steel stadium, and capacity was raised to over 20,000. Its most interesting feature was the sixty-foot wall in right field called "The Great Wall." It was over twenty feet higher than The Green Monster in Fenway Park. League Park never had lights, and the Indians last played there in 1946. The Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro League continued to play there until 1950. Most of League Park was torn down in 1951.League Park was the home of some great baseball. The very first pitch thrown there came from Cy Young, who played for the Spiders. The Indians clinched the 1920 World Series there. During that World Series was the first World Series grand slam and the first (and so far only) unassisted World Series triple play. In 1929, Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run there against the Indians. During the 1945 season, Jackie Robinson, before he broke the color barrier of the Major Leagues, played in League Park for the Kansas City Monarchs. He hit a home run against the Buckeyes on July 24th. The Buckeyes went on to win the Negro League World Series in 1945.From 1916-1926, League Park was named Dunn Field after the owner Jim Dunn. This name change was a prerequisite of Jim Dunn. In 1927, the team was bought by Alva Bradley from the Dunn estate, and renamed the park League Park.After the demolition in 1951, all that remained of League Park was the three-story ticket building and a part of the first baseline grandstand. The city of Cleveland voted on February 7, 2011 to renovate League Park. The original structures have been restored and baseball and softball fields were installed. The hope is that the new League Park will revitalize the neighborhood.

League Park opened on May 1, 1891 as the home of the Cleveland Spiders. The Spiders were the predecessor of today's Cleveland Indians. The Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro Leagues also played here. It was the site of many baseball firsts but fell into decay when the Indians moved to Cleveland Stadium. League Park was torn down in 1951 but underwent a renovation project beginning in 2011.

League Park 

Constructed in 1909, Swayne Field became one of Toledo's oldest minor league baseball parks. The original capacity of 11,800 spectators expanded in 1928, to allow for an additional 3.000 more seats. The Toledo Mud Hens baseball team fared moderately better then their football counter parts. The opening game for the stadium featured the Mud Hens baseball team battling against Columbus. The game lasted for 18 innings before Columbus claimed victory. The park would also become the home for the Toledo Maroons, who needed a new space after being evicted from Armory Park field. The owners of Armory Park complained that the football cleats destroyed the grass field. Baseball dominated the city of Toledo, and the Maroons struggled to attract spectators. After the 1923 season, the Maroons transferred to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Kenosha Maroons dissolved after failing to secure a win after five games in the 1924 season. Even the Mud Hens struggled to survive and moved to Charleston, West Virginia in 1953.The field itself remained open until 1955. The lack of successful teams started to affect the ability of the field to remain open. Eventually, all of the sports teams transferred or disbanded, leaving the park no choice but to close and succumb to natural decay. The Swayne Field Shopping Center now sits on the site, some of the left-field wall still stands as a decaying barrier on the northeast edge of the block.

Constructed in 1909, Swayne Field accommodated several minor league baseball teams in Toledo, Ohio. The field also served as the home of the Toledo Maroons football team. The team moved from Armory Park to Swayne Field in 1909. The Maroons called this field home for 13 years. The team struggled to acquire an audience in Toledo. The Maroons had little success over the years as a professional team. The field stood for 46 years in Toledo, until the city demolished the venue in 1955. The field was named after the son of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Noah Haynes Swayne, who donated the land for the ballpark. The site is now home to the Swayne Field Shopping Center.

Swayne Field (demolished)

Indianola Park opened as a Columbus amusement park in 1905. Its several roller coasters and massive pools attracted customers from across Ohio. The dentist-turned-developer Charles Miles financed the entire park, while Frederick Ingersoll designed it. The success of the many Luna Parks persuaded Miles to take a risk and create his amusement park. The park also featured roller dance halls, a scenic railroad, restaurants, and several athletic fields. The football field became the home of the Columbus Panhandles in 1909. Joseph Carr, the owner of the Panhandles arranged to have the majority of their games played on the road. Most of the team was employed by the railroad, which allowed them to ride the train for free and not have to spend money on stadium rentals, promotion, or security. In 1916, the Panhandles decided to move to a different venue, at Neil Park, the reason for the move is unknown.In 1923, the park changed management. The new owners invested several thousand dollars on renovations. The new Jazz Age them to remodel the dance pavilion. The famous swimming pool required major repairs as well. In the 1920s, the park sold some of its lands for the construction of the new Indianola Junior High School. This reduced the park to just its core, which included the dance hall and the pool. The park remained open until 1937. The toll of the Great Depression and the reduced size of the park made it impossible to keep open. In 1948, the park was converted into the Indianola Park Shopping Mall

This amusement park resided in the university district of Columbus, Ohio from 1905 to 1937. Affluent businessmen Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll designed and owned the park. The park became the home field for the Columbus Panhandles football team for half a decade. The team left for Neil Park in 1916 for unknown reasons. The attraction flourished until 1920 when new owners bought the park and remodeled it. In 1927, the park sold some of its lands to the Columbus Board of Education for the construction of the Indianola Junior High School. The park struggled due to the Great Depression and failed to attract enough visitors to stay open.

Indianola Park (demolished) 

The Triangle stadium became official in 1917, which housed the Dayton Triangle, football team. The park housed the Triangles during their stay with the American Professional Football Association, which became the National Football League. In 1916, the Canton Bulldogs defeated the Massillon Tigers for the Ohio League Championship. The Triangles challenged the Bulldogs to a game but the game never came to fruition. The team continued to see success, as the team scored 188 points while only giving up 13 points in the 1917 season. In 1918, World War I took many players from football teams across Ohio. The Dayton Triangles managed to keep enough players to continue playing and eventually won the Ohio League Championship. The Triangles battled the Columbus Panhandles in the first NFL game at Triangle Stadium in 1920. The Triangles saw a decline starting in 1922, as the team would mainly recruit players locally, while other teams recruited players from top colleges. Large venues also offered a guaranteed payday for the teams, which resulted in the Triangles becoming a mainly travel team. The team dissolved and merged with other football teams in 1929.The park is still in use today, as a city park. In 2019, in honor of the NFL's centennial season, the league wanted to fund the construction of a new artificial turf field at Triangle Park. However, The possibility of a Native American burial site halted the plan. The city officially scrapped the idea on May 15, 2019, after a survey showed a unique and sizable anomaly in the area that was potentially prehistoric.

Triangle Park is a former American football stadium that is located in Dayton, Ohio. Construction of the stadium finished in 1917 and could seat 5,000 spectators and accommodated the Dayton Triangles, football team. Former basketball players from St. Mary's College, now known as the University of Dayton, made up most of the early team. The team competed against several Ohio teams, and eventually joined the American Professional Football Association. Currently, Triangle Park is now a park in the city of Dayton and is formally known as Triangle Park Pavilion.

Triangle Park

The Ironton Tanks
came into existence in 1919.&nbsp; Taking
their name from the armored machine of World War I, many of the players were
veterans. The club at first played their games at Beechwood Park. Beechwood
Park was simply a field with no grandstands. At that time, players often held
double duties, also serving as coaches or managers. Carlton “Shorty” Davies was
both the tailback and coach, while William “Bill” Brooks was a tackle and the
business manager. In their first year, the Tanks played to a record of 2-1-1,
playing teams from Ashland, KY, Portsmouth, OH and New Boston, OH. They drew
little attention.

&nbsp; Fortunes began to
change in 1920; the team went 5-1-1 with wins over Marshall College and a team
from Nitro, WV. The Tanks played teams from across the country, but a
three-team league developed consisting of the Ironton Tanks, the Ashland
Armcos, and the Portsmouth Spartans. Coined “the Tri-State League,” the rivalry
between Ironton and Portsmouth grew especially intense. Games often attracted
as many as fifteen hundred fans. The need for a better facility was apparent,
and in 1926, Tank Stadium opened. In the early days of the NFL, scheduling
rules were lax and the Tanks played several NFL teams, including the New York
Giants, the Chicago Bears, the Canton Bulldogs, and the Kansas City Cowboys.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Few teams have
ever achieved the on-field success the Tanks achieved during their history. The
team’s record over their twelve-year existence was a remarkable 85-19-14.&nbsp; Ironton came to embrace their football team,
frequently holding pre-game rallies or parades. Leaving a legacy that continues
today as the Detroit Lions, the Tanks were important to the development of
professional football. Future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Earl “Greasy”
Neal coached the team in 1930. Future NFL All-Pro Glen Presnell, along with
many other Tank players, moved on to the Portsmouth Spartans when the Tanks
folded. Others moved on to the Detroit Lions with the purchase of the Spartans
by a group from Detroit in 1934. Presnell led the NFL in scoring in 1935.

&nbsp;&nbsp; With the gradual decline of the Tanks and other small town&nbsp;professional football teams, Tanks Memorial Stadium became the home of the Ironton High School
Tigers. The Tigers won the Ohio state football championships in 1979 and 1989
and were second in 1973, 1982, 1988, 1992, and 1999. Tanks Stadium is one of
a few high school stadiums in the U.S. with covered grandstands. The Ohio
Historical Society placed a marker at the site in 2002.

Following World War I, the state of Ohio was at the center of the football world. Many communities boasted professional or semi-pro teams, but few teams enjoyed success equal to that of the Ironton Tanks. Originally one of two semi-pro teams which called Ironton home, the Tanks would excel on the field, becoming a dominant team in the period from 1919 to 1930. The team’s popularity increased, they became a great source of civic pride. Fan-support for the Tanks was so strong that a group of boosters raised the capital required to build the Tanks a home stadium. Opening in 1926, Tanks Memorial Stadium would host future NFL All-Pro’s and a Hall of Fame honoree. With the gradual decline of the Tanks and other small town professional football teams, Tanks Memorial Stadium became the home of the Ironton High School football team. Recognizing the historic significance of the stadium, the Ohio Historical Society placed an official marker outside the stadium in 2002. 

The Ohio League Trail

Armory Park (demolished)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information