Restore Katy Park Stadium
Donation protected
Katy Park, on the east side of Chanute, was named for the Katy Railway, the name by which the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway was commonly known. The park was established in 1895 as the new fairground, and baseball games were scheduled there as early as that June, although the grandstand was not completed until August. The wooden grandstand faced east and was 45 feet wide, 100 feet long, and about 16 feet high, with a seating capacity of 1,200. Chanute fielded professional teams in 1896 and 1902 but found it difficult to support them financially.
Games were played at the fairgrounds diamond until 1906, when the diamond and grandstand at Athletic Park, a fenced baseball and football ground, came into use for the Chanute minor league baseball team that joined the Kansas State League. As with the two previous professional teams, the 1906 team played only one year in Chanute. Athletic Park was also referred to as the West Main Street ballpark, because it sat northwest of the corner of West Main Street and Allen Avenue, the current site of Lincoln School.
The diamond at the old fairground continued to be used occasionally, and in late 1911 and early 1912, the city arranged to purchase the fairground for use as a city park. Katy Park was dedicated on July 4, 1912, with various horse races but no baseball games. However, the grandstand had become unsafe. Initially it was to be replaced, but the decision was made to repair it to save money for construction of a building to be used during the Four-County Fair. However, by 1913 it was reported that the grandstand actually had been replaced. Like the 1895 grandstand, it was probably a straight structure constructed of wood that was suitable for viewing the horse races. In May 1913, a new city baseball diamond (with backstops) was constructed within the speed ring in front of the grandstand. The interest in putting a diamond at the Katy Park grandstand arose, in part, because fences had been removed at Athletic Park in anticipation of the area’s development as the city expanded. After 1913, the town teams used the Katy City Park baseball diamond until 1921.
Although the ball diamond remained in Katy Park, a new ballpark was built just east of town so teams could play on Sunday afternoons, an activity banned by the city in 1915. This new East Park (later called Ingraham Park) had a grandstand and a scoreboard in center field, but no outfield fence to stop a ball hit into the alfalfa field beyond center and right fields. East Ballpark was opened with games on two consecutive Sundays between Chanute's two primary teams, the white Boosters and the African American Black Diamonds (the Black Diamonds won a third game on July 4 to take the series 2 games to 1). The Black Diamonds of 1921 featured Humboldt native George Sweatt at third base, who was finishing his training to be a teacher while attending the Kansas State Teachers College at Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University). He would later play in the first 4 Negro World Series (1924–1927), the first 2 years with the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1922, a week after major flooding struck the area, strong winds during the third Easter storm in as many years lifted the grandstand and tossed it onto the road, taking out the power lines to the city water pumps. The damage and inclement weather throughout the spring delayed the baseball season, but the grandstand was replaced and reroofed by early June. Later in the year, the Black Diamonds used the ballpark as members of the short-lived Western Colored League. [I still have to check newspapers from 1923 to 1936.]
In 1936, a new, longer lasting grandstand was built of locally quarried stone and concrete as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. As with the previous wooden grandstands, the lone, straight grandstand that now sits along the third base line could be used for activities other than baseball. As currently situated, the grandstand is not wholly adjacent to the third base line, with a point near the center of the grandstand closest to home plate. The end of the grandstand extends well beyond home plate and the backstop, away from the field of play, which makes for a longer sight line. The infield and outfield are grass. The outfield fence is chainlink covered with green mesh.
During 1946–1950, the stadium was the home park for Class D minor league teams in the KOM League (Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri) during the expansion of minor league baseball teams following World War II. The 1946 Chanute Owls and the 1947 Chanute Athletics were not affiliated with a major league team, but the 1948 Chanute Giants were affiliated with the New York Giants. The affiliation lasted one year. The Chanute Athletics returned for two years in 1949. However, as the Korean War began in 1950, the low-level minor league circuit dropped from eight teams to six when the teams in Chanute and nearby Independence folded after the 1950 season, and the entire league folded after the 1952 season.
The field at Katy Stadium is dedicated to Paul Lindblad, a Chanute native who played most of his major league career with the Kansas City Athletics/Oakland A’s as a relief pitcher from 1965 to 1978. Although the orientation and exact placement of the diamond have changed during its history, this baseball ground is one of the oldest still used for the sport in Kansas (120 years).
Almost every person that has lived in Chanute has a memory of Katy Park Stadium. A group of people would like to renovate the stadium. We are asking for donations to help this process. We are working on grants that are available from the National Parks Service to do most of the heavy lifting. None of the money that is raised will go to labor we have volunteers that will be doing that.
We are looking to do:
1. Resod the infield and around homeplate.
2. Seed grass into the outfield.
3. Install sprinkler system.
4. New Backstop.
5. New wood outfield fence.
6. Field maintenance equipment.
7. Do repairs to the grandstands and bathrooms.
8. New dugouts and locker rooms.
9. New scoreboard.
Games were played at the fairgrounds diamond until 1906, when the diamond and grandstand at Athletic Park, a fenced baseball and football ground, came into use for the Chanute minor league baseball team that joined the Kansas State League. As with the two previous professional teams, the 1906 team played only one year in Chanute. Athletic Park was also referred to as the West Main Street ballpark, because it sat northwest of the corner of West Main Street and Allen Avenue, the current site of Lincoln School.
The diamond at the old fairground continued to be used occasionally, and in late 1911 and early 1912, the city arranged to purchase the fairground for use as a city park. Katy Park was dedicated on July 4, 1912, with various horse races but no baseball games. However, the grandstand had become unsafe. Initially it was to be replaced, but the decision was made to repair it to save money for construction of a building to be used during the Four-County Fair. However, by 1913 it was reported that the grandstand actually had been replaced. Like the 1895 grandstand, it was probably a straight structure constructed of wood that was suitable for viewing the horse races. In May 1913, a new city baseball diamond (with backstops) was constructed within the speed ring in front of the grandstand. The interest in putting a diamond at the Katy Park grandstand arose, in part, because fences had been removed at Athletic Park in anticipation of the area’s development as the city expanded. After 1913, the town teams used the Katy City Park baseball diamond until 1921.
Although the ball diamond remained in Katy Park, a new ballpark was built just east of town so teams could play on Sunday afternoons, an activity banned by the city in 1915. This new East Park (later called Ingraham Park) had a grandstand and a scoreboard in center field, but no outfield fence to stop a ball hit into the alfalfa field beyond center and right fields. East Ballpark was opened with games on two consecutive Sundays between Chanute's two primary teams, the white Boosters and the African American Black Diamonds (the Black Diamonds won a third game on July 4 to take the series 2 games to 1). The Black Diamonds of 1921 featured Humboldt native George Sweatt at third base, who was finishing his training to be a teacher while attending the Kansas State Teachers College at Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University). He would later play in the first 4 Negro World Series (1924–1927), the first 2 years with the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1922, a week after major flooding struck the area, strong winds during the third Easter storm in as many years lifted the grandstand and tossed it onto the road, taking out the power lines to the city water pumps. The damage and inclement weather throughout the spring delayed the baseball season, but the grandstand was replaced and reroofed by early June. Later in the year, the Black Diamonds used the ballpark as members of the short-lived Western Colored League. [I still have to check newspapers from 1923 to 1936.]
In 1936, a new, longer lasting grandstand was built of locally quarried stone and concrete as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. As with the previous wooden grandstands, the lone, straight grandstand that now sits along the third base line could be used for activities other than baseball. As currently situated, the grandstand is not wholly adjacent to the third base line, with a point near the center of the grandstand closest to home plate. The end of the grandstand extends well beyond home plate and the backstop, away from the field of play, which makes for a longer sight line. The infield and outfield are grass. The outfield fence is chainlink covered with green mesh.
During 1946–1950, the stadium was the home park for Class D minor league teams in the KOM League (Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri) during the expansion of minor league baseball teams following World War II. The 1946 Chanute Owls and the 1947 Chanute Athletics were not affiliated with a major league team, but the 1948 Chanute Giants were affiliated with the New York Giants. The affiliation lasted one year. The Chanute Athletics returned for two years in 1949. However, as the Korean War began in 1950, the low-level minor league circuit dropped from eight teams to six when the teams in Chanute and nearby Independence folded after the 1950 season, and the entire league folded after the 1952 season.
The field at Katy Stadium is dedicated to Paul Lindblad, a Chanute native who played most of his major league career with the Kansas City Athletics/Oakland A’s as a relief pitcher from 1965 to 1978. Although the orientation and exact placement of the diamond have changed during its history, this baseball ground is one of the oldest still used for the sport in Kansas (120 years).
Almost every person that has lived in Chanute has a memory of Katy Park Stadium. A group of people would like to renovate the stadium. We are asking for donations to help this process. We are working on grants that are available from the National Parks Service to do most of the heavy lifting. None of the money that is raised will go to labor we have volunteers that will be doing that.
We are looking to do:
1. Resod the infield and around homeplate.
2. Seed grass into the outfield.
3. Install sprinkler system.
4. New Backstop.
5. New wood outfield fence.
6. Field maintenance equipment.
7. Do repairs to the grandstands and bathrooms.
8. New dugouts and locker rooms.
9. New scoreboard.
Organizer
Phillip Chaney
Organizer
Chanute, KS
