Central Park was a

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 ...

venue located in the

Hill District The Hill District is a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, "the Hill" was the cultural center of black life in the city and a major cent ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

from 1921–1925. The stadium was the first black-owned, controlled and managed baseball park in the city. The ballpark served as the home of the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Negro National League. Officially named Central Amusement Park, the field's construction was commissioned in 1920 by Keystones' owner Alexander M. Williams and was designed by the prominent African-American architect, Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger, who would later design

Greenlee Field Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, was one of few black-built and black-owned major league baseball field in the United States. The field was the dream of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1931, constru ...

for the

Pittsburgh Crawfords The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team, previously known as the Crawford Colored Giants, was named after the Crawford Bath House, a recrea ...

. The ballpark was on a block bounded by Humber Way (north/northwest, third base); buildings and Junilla Street (northeast/east, left field); Hallett Street (southeast/south, right field); and Chauncey Street (southwest/west, first base). Across Humber were buildings and then Wylie Avenue. Well south of Hallett was a larger thoroughfare named Centre Avenue. Newspapers often gave the location as Wylie, Chauncey and Centre. After the Keystones folded after their 1922 season, Williams lost his savings, and by 1924 he had sold the park to

Sell Hall Sellers McKee Hall (June 15, 1888 – February 13, 1951) was the first African-American music promoter to be based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as professional player and executive in Negro league baseball. Music promoter During the 1920s ...

. Central Park was sold again and turned into a “summer dancing pavilion.” In 2012, Central Park was denied an historical marker by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. According to the Commission, the venue was seen as a local or regional interest rather than a national and the state already had several other markers commemorating the Negro leagues. The ballpark site is now occupied by a public park.

References

{{Pittsburgh sports Negro league baseball venues Defunct baseball venues in the United States Sports venues in Pittsburgh Demolished sports venues in Pennsylvania Baseball venues in Pennsylvania Defunct sports venues in Pennsylvania 1920 establishments in Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1920 1925 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Sports venues demolished in 1925