The Pecan Park Eagle

The West End Park plaque dedication has been moved to Antioch Park at Allen Center at the corner of Smith & Clay. 10 AM, Saturday, July 12, 2014 remains as our fixed ceremonial time. Please join us.

If you are anywhere near Houston on Saturday morning, July 12, 2014, come join the crowd downtown at the Allen Center intersection of Jefferson and Brazos. The Harris County Historical Commission will be installing a plaque to commemorate the the once four-block tract that served as the site of West End Park, home of Houston professional baseball from 1905 to 1927. The  venue also served as a place used by Negro League baseball during that era of segregation and also by both high school and college football for much of that time. West End Park continued in use for a broad variety of amateur and semi-professional sports for several years beyond the 1928 Houston Buffaloes move to Buffalo Stadium on the near east side of downtown. Rice and Notre Dame once played a college football game at West End Park

Mike Vance, Editor of SABR’s new “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961,” deserves the credit for spearheading the movement to have this action of attention taken in behalf of an important site in our local history and he is most deserving of our appreciation. As Executive Director of the non-profit organization known as Houston Arts and Media, Mike is involved in all kinds of “cultural archeology” projects that include, but go way beyond sports alone. The Pecan Park Eagle can think of no other person in our town who is more active in efforts to build, protect, acknowledge, and preserve our City of Houston and broader community history of how we got to be the metropolis we are today.

Repeating news of one change here: the time and and date remain the same as originally planned. That’s 10:00 AM, Saturday, July 12, 2014. The site of the ceremony, however, has now been changed to Antioch Park at Allen Center at the corner of Smith and Clay. Please pass the word to any friends you know who are coming – and please make plans to join us. These kinds of days are always a dual celebration – of an important memory of Houston history that is being saved for the ages, even when the wrecking ball of time and other priorities have wiped all physical evidence of its being from our sight.- and in appreciation for our fellow Houstonians who work so hard to make sure that important historical places are not lost to the bad memory of Father Time. – Hope to see you there this time because its one of those chances we all have to show our appreciation and support for a job that was both, worth doing – and also well done.

Thank you, Mike Vance!

Please join us on Saturday morning, July 12, 2014, at 10:00 AM for this special dedication to the memory of West End Park.

Who knows? Maybe that will also be your day to find your own pathway into the movement for preserving Greater Houston and Harris County history before some developers push something else irreplaceable into extinction for the sake of creating another treeless parking lot or strip center.

West End Park in the Early Years. That’s the steeple of Antioch Baptist Church in the foul ground area beyond left field.

Have a nice weekend, everybody! Get out and enjoy all that Houston has to offer! We’ll see you downtown on July 12th!