{"nrhp_refnum":"05000878","name":"Wahconah Park","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"143 Wahconah St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsfield","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.462298723500055,"lon":-73.25317975458235,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-08-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Wahconah Park is an 18.2-acre municipal baseball park site at 143 Wahconah Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, featuring a ca. 1950 steel-framed grandstand, a minor league ballfield, bleachers, a gravel parking area and youth ballfields.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the park as a long-running sports facility, with a ballfield on the same northern location since 1892 when George Burbank laid it out. The 1950 grandstand, designed by local architects, is a surviving shed-roof grandstand with wings, and the park has hosted minor league baseball, including Canadian-American League games, and night baseball since the 1940s.","narrative":"Wahconah Park is a municipal baseball complex on 18.2 acres beside the West Branch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Its centerpiece is a 2,000-seat grandstand with a corrugated steel shed roof, built on spruce piles and a steel frame. Local architects Joseph McArthur Vance and Bradley & Gass designed it, with structural work by the Hussey company. Construction ran from October 1949 to April 1950, and the first Canadian-American League game was played there on 2 May 1950. The grounds also include 1950 bleachers along both baselines, a gravel parking lot, and two youth baseball diamonds laid out around 1940. The ballfield has stayed on the same northern acreage since George Burbank first laid it out in 1892, though its orientation has changed over time. Night games began with portable lights in 1930 and permanent lighting in 1942. The park was altered in 1978, 1986, 1994 and 1997, but those changes did not compromise its overall integrity. It remains an active sports venue.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Joseph McArthur Vance and Bradley & Gass (architects); structural design by Hussey Mnfg. Co.","architectural_style":"Other: shed-roof grandstand with wings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a minor league baseball facility; the grandstand was renovated in 1978 and 1997, and the bleachers are described as in superb condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.713629-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/7942/63794270/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/05000878.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000878/ad2813731c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000878/ad2813731c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Anc516 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pitts09a.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Anc516 at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pitts09a.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794270","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahconah_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7959747"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/wahconah-park-05000878/"}