Hinchliffe Stadium

I knew Hinchliffe Stadium was somewhere in Paterson but I didn't realize it was right above the Great Falls.  Hinchliffe was home to the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans baseball teams of the Negro Leagues.  Paterson native Larry Doby tried out for the Newark Bears in Hinchliffe before eventually joining the Cleveland Indians and breaking the color barrier in the American League.  Hinchliffe is one of only three remaining Negro League stadiums.

The stadium also hosted professional football, boxing, midget car and motorcycle racing during its lifetime.  For years it was the home of Paterson's high school sports teams.  In part that's why the Art Deco stadium was built in the depths of the depression - to give Paterson's youth a safe place to play.

The stadium was closed in 1997 when the school district, which owns it, no longer had the finances to keep the stadium in good condition.  Since then the stadium has deteriorated, as is obvious.  I didn't go into the stadium but it would have been easy to do so.

Thanks to efforts by local preservationists Hinchliffe has been listed on the state and national registers of historic places and last year the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed it as one of the country's most endangered places.

Hinchliffe Stadium and the Great Falls were two of the three things I knew about Paterson before taking the long way home last Friday.  Next up is the third thing, or maybe something from Nebraska.  I haven't made up my mind yet.

Comments

[judy]

I hope the restore this. It's beautiful and such great history that should not be forgotten.

[Joe]

I got tired of doing the research so I didn't write about it but I think there's some money for restoration. There's also talk about folding the stadium in with the still developing Great Falls Historic Park.

[jesse]

there will be a story about its current status posted at patersonpress.com hopefully in the next week. just came across your site researching it.

[Joe]

Thanks for letting us know. I look forward to reading the update.