Dexter Park was located in the Queens neighborhood of Woodhaven, barely across the county line from Brooklyn.
It had a long early history as a recreational park, which replaced a racetrack named for a famous horse
called Dexter, reputedly buried at the site. Much of the 19th century activity at Dexter Park
involved live pigeon shooting, and we'll leave that topic alone.
In 1901, the park was purchased by William Ulmer Brewery, and Conrad Hasenflug was installed as
proprietor. Along with sundry other amusements, Dexter Park became a popular venue for football
and baseball. Baseball was especially popular on Sundays, since blue laws were less strongly
enforced in Queens than Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Royal Giants were important tenants at Dexter Park- from 1905 to 1913 as a strong club
under John Connors' control, and then
during their less storied time under Nat Strong with the Eastern Colored League from 1923 to 1927.
This period did include "Cyclone" Joe Williams' amazing 25 strikeouts in an unlucky 1924 loss to the
Bushwicks, however.
Dexter Park at the height of its beauty
After Wallace's Ridgewood Grounds burned down in September 1917, Max Rosner's Brooklyn Bushwicks
needed a new home. In 1918 they leased Dexter Park, where his Cypress Hills team had played from
1911, and never left. In 1922 Strong and Rosner purchased
Dexter Park, and built a new steel and concrete grandstand with a capacity of 6,000. 2,000 extra bleacher
seats were added in 1924.
Max Rosner's son Herman put his electrical engineering degree to good use, installing the first focused
lighting system for any baseball field at Dexter Park in 1930. Dexter Park's first night
game was July 23, 1930- five years before any major league venue.
High school football was a regular event at Dexter Park during fall, attracting crowds near 10,000
at times. On November 1, 1930,
a section of the stands seating 500 fans collapsed during a game for the all-Queens title. Amazingly, no-one was injured, and Jamaica
went on to defeat Richmond Hill 25 to 2.
The capacity of Dexter Park was increased gradually, reaching an official limit of 15,400 in the
1930s. However, crowds of 20,000 and 16,500 were reported for the visits of the Bay Parkways in
1933 (with Carl Hubbell) and 1935 (with Babe Ruth). The recently retired Sultan of Swat smacked a
home run in the first inning off 44 year old Dazzy Vance.
Dexter Park today- unattractive, but at least it has a historical marker
In 1951, with semipro and Negro League attendance declining alarmingly, a racetrack was installed once more at
Dexter Park- this time for midget autos. This involved moving the diamond, and the Bushwicks
played one last season on a smaller, lesser field than before. Auto racing continued through 1955,
when Dexter Park was sold off for housing construction. Today, the site has some houses, but is
mostly taken up by a C-Town supermarket and its parking lot. It does, at least, have a historical
marker.
Many thanks are due to Jane and Douglas Jacobs for access to their paper, Dexter Park: Brooklyn's Other Ballpark, which
helped us a great deal in putting this and the semipro teams page together.
