Historic Hood River
Columbia Park, 1912
Notes
This 1912 image from Arline Moore shows the grandstands at “Columbia Park,” near what is now 12th Street and Belmont Avenue. This field was often the venue for the baseball rivalry between the “Heights Nine” and the “Lower City Lads,” as sports reporters of the day liked to call the Heights and Downtown teams. I believe that’s Merrill Gessling, who played short stop, in the middle of the frame.
Believe it or not, this is the 2000th image posted on the Historic Hood River photoblog. Every weekday morning for over seven years HHR has greeted the history hungry hordes with a fresh image and accompanying story. Visitors to the site have viewed these images more than 2 million times. They have also left more than 16,000 comments, turning this site into an experiment in crowdsourcing local history.
I have to admit after all these years I am no better at guessing which images will attract notice and which ones will get a collective yawn. I learned in the early years just to mix it up with all sorts of images and watch what happens. We’ll see if today’s post sparks a conversation about baseball, traffic in the Heights, or something else entirely.
And to those of you who are just discovering Historic Hood River: you have a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately historic images don’t go stale. You can just keep hitting the “previous” arrow, or browse by keyword or thumbnail until you’ve had your fill. Don’t be shy about leaving comments.
Tags: 12th Street, 1910s, baseball, Belmont Street, Columbia Park, grandstand, Moore, sports
L.E.
Today’s post will probably spark a multitude of thank-yous.
Thank you Arthur for 2,000 images of enjoyment.
It has been more fun than the baseball game.
Arlen Sheldrake
this member of the "horde" greatly appreciates Arthur’s efforts….sent from San Juan, PR on the ship Viking Sea.
Sue
Consider me part of the multitude. I love this site.
JKG
Congratulations and a big thank you for keeping this site going! I like to think that this website makes me a little more knowledgable about the place that I call home with passing photo.
L.E.
From the April 14, 1912 Oregonian:
The Lower City’s aggregation follows: Gill and Meyers, pitchers; Castner and Large, catchers; Waldie, first base; Chandler, second base; Will Baker, third base; Jost, left field; Moore, center field; and Smith, right field.
Ralph
Thanks for keeping this site going. I have enjoyed the information and photos of the history and people of Hood River and Hood River County. Hard to imagine there was a park located in the area of the 2018 portion of this photo.
L.E.
Any chance that is Billy Sunday walking toward the camera?
Jen Bayer
Thanks so much for creating and keeping this site going! I look forward to seeing the pic of the day and love the comments.