Fair Grounds Base Ball Park
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Semi-professional baseball was a major attraction at the first annual state fair held in Houston in May of 1870. One year later, the fairgrounds moved to a new location near where Main Street ended onto the prairie at Houston's south edge. The fairgrounds had a racetrack, grandstand, and permanent exhibit hall that sat on eighty acres. The fair offered competitions, livestock shows, dancing, and baseball. The earliest multi-city baseball competitions in Texas were played at the Houston Fair Grounds Ball Field until the state fair left Houston forever in 1878. The fair grounds were rented as a city park, and the ball field at Travis and McGowen streets remained vibrant. The professional Texas Association, the first intercity baseball league in the state, played games at the field in 1884. Even as the old fair grounds were being developed, the six square blocks between McGowen, Main, Drew, and Milam remained open for baseball. On April 1, 1888, the inaugural game for the Texas League was played at Fair Grounds Park, with Houston defeating Galveston 4-1. In 1896, the grandstands were rebuilt with enough seats for 2,500 spectators. It continued to hold games for the Texas League, major league exhibitions and top African American teams in Texas until 1904, when the six blocks where the field sat were developed. Less than a year after baseball moved away, the blocks were subdivided and sold as residential and commercial properties. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Houston's state fairgrounds took shape on the prairie south of downtown in the 1870s, baseball became one of its biggest draws, and the fair grounds ball field hosted some of the earliest multi-city games in Texas. Even after the fair left in 1878, the open blocks kept the game alive: the first Texas League game was played here in 1888, with Houston beating Galveston 4-1, and rebuilt grandstands seated 2,500 by 1896. Until the land was subdivided for houses and shops in 1904, the field welcomed Texas League clubs, major-league exhibition teams, and leading African American teams.
Why it matters
This patch of Houston prairie was a cradle of organized Texas baseball, where the state's first intercity league took the field and where Black and white teams alike shaped the young game.
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Related events
- · First Texas League game (1888)
Themes & tags
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