Bengal Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located in

Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the second-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Coeur d'Alene, and ninth-largest in the state. Lewiston is ...

. Opened in 1934 as a multi-sport athletic field, it is currently the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium for Lewiston High School, formerly located a few blocks to the northwest. The natural grass field runs conventionally north-south, with the main grandstand on the west sideline. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of the field is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. It was formerly a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

, the home field of the

Lewiston Broncs {{Infobox Minor League Baseball , name = Lewiston Broncs , firstseason =1921 , lastseason =1974 , allyears =1921, 1937, 1939, 1952–1974 , city =Lewiston, Idaho , logo = , caplogo = , past class level =Short-season ...

from 1952 through 1974. The Broncs were in the

Western International League The Western International League was a mid- to higher-level minor league baseball circuit in the Pacific Northwest United States and western Canada that operated in 1922, 1937 to 1942 and 1946 to 1954. In 1955, the Western International League ev ...

(WIL) for the first three seasons and the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Maj ...

(NWL) for the following two decades, which changed to

short-season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

play in 1966. Bengal Field also hosted the Lewiston Indians for two seasons, one in the Class B WIL in 1937, and in the Class C Pioneer League in 1939. The first night game at the park was the opening game in 1937 on April 27. The WIL franchise moved northwest to Bellingham for the 1938 season, and the Pioneer League team was moved to

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...

in eastern Idaho in 1940, closer to the rest of the league. The baseball diamond at Bengal Field had an unorthodox southwest alignment, with the setting sun in right field; the recommended orientation (home plate to center field) is east-northeast. Owned by the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

, the ballpark was also the home field for high school and

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

baseball. It hosted the American Legion World Series in 1973. It transitioned into a football-only venue in the 1980s. The LHS Bengals last played baseball there in 1983, and used two venues in 1984, Harris Field at

Lewis–Clark State College Lewis–Clark State College is a public college in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States, located in North Central Idaho, north central Idaho at Lewiston, Idaho, Lewiston. Founded in 1893, it has an approximate annual enr ...

and Clearwater Park (), on the north bank of the Clearwater River. They now play at Dwight Church Field () in the southeast end of the city, about two miles (3 km) east of the

Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport is in Lewiston, Idaho, United States. Owned by the city and Nez Perce County, it is in an elevated area south of downtown, approximately above the rivers. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems fo ...

, while American Legion baseball is played at Harris Field. Church (1925–94), LHS class of 1943, was the longtime head coach of the high school and Legion baseball programs.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Baseball-Reference.com
– minor league teams – Lewiston, Idaho Sports venues in Idaho Minor league baseball venues Defunct baseball venues in the United States 1934 establishments in Idaho Sports venues completed in 1934 American football venues in Idaho High school football venues in the United States