Canal Days

Elmwood Neighborhood in Holyoke

Blessed Sacrament Church and neighborhood

Along Beech Street it seems that Elmwood (LOCATION) is a new neighborhood but actually it is very old. Chapin Street has at its northern end as small street that bears to the right. This tiny street once lead into Elmwood Park and was considered to be its main entrance. After going downhill it meets the Day Brook. At that stream a bridge was built. One could cross the bridge and walk on a dirt road to Pine and Beech Streets.

Due to its wild nature, the Day Brook has been placed nearly entirely underground. Read about it HERE (PDF). Day Brook was placed underground for its full length through the Elmwood Park in the year 1926. The brook was causing too much trouble in the western Oakdale section of the city. It would flood very often. The stream was placed into the waste drainage system of Holyoke. This means that during floods there might be backups in the sewage system. When Day Brook passes through Community Field, the banks of the stream are made very high. The wastewater treatment plant of Holyoke is able to handle the high levels of most days but once a year it cannot. Then wastewater is sent directly to the river before treatment. Most of this elevated level of water is caused by the diversion of water from the Day Brook into the sewer pipelines.

Crosier Field in Holyoke

Crosier Field in Holyoke

Crosier Field (LOCATION) was once called Soldiers’ Field and also called Elmwood Field. The first official name was given on July 4 1932 at a dedication ceremony – it was named Soldiers’ Field. It was renamed and rededicated on Armistice Day 1939 to Crosier Field – named after William Crosier (March 25 1860 to January 5 1938). Crosier was the leader of a military group that fought in the Spanish American War. He was superintendent of the parks of Holyoke from April 1 1918 to September 15 1933.

In 1932 the maple trees along the western edge of the park were planted to honor the Spanish American War deaths. Two stones at the northwest corner of the park explain these facts. William Crosier (FINDAGRAVE) bought and planted the maples from his own pocket. Along this western edge of the play area there once was a steep contour right up to the road. The maples were added to the new tree belt that was added there. Along the northern edge of the park there are a row of trees that honor the WW1 deaths of Holyoke and these were planted by a veterans group.

A brownstone drinking fountain was gifted to the park in 1932 by Ellen Ives to honor her brother Dwight Ives. In 1942 a shelter house was added to the field along with a baseball backstop. Too many baseball were being lost into the dingle. In 1950 a sanitary building was added. (At some point two pillars were added to the northwest corner of Crosier Field. This would serve as a symbolic entrance. I cannot find the year it was made.)

Elmwood Park covered the east portion of the park and went all the way to Carlton Street. There it bordered Carlton Street School. It is now both a neighborhood park and a schoolyard.

Carlton Street School in Holyoke

Carlton Street School

The Carlton Street School (LOCATION) was built in 1865. Carlton Street was once called Mechanic Street. See the location of the school in the Walker map below. The Ball land would become the Soldiers Field (Crosiers) and the Ewing land would be Elmwood Field. See the Dexter Hose House in the map also.

In 1908 the entrance from the Elmwood area was purchased so people could get into the park from near the school. This area used to be part of that very large Dingle that defined Elmwood Park. In 1910 a baseball field was finally made in this Elmwood Field.

In 1917 a great deal was done to fill in the Carlton Street end of the Dingle. This part of the juncture of Peck, Crosier, and Carlton was called the Elmwood Playground.

Farther up the area was the South Street School. This school was built in 1894. This school was renamed in 1904 to the Elmwood School.

MacKenzie Field

Once called the Ball Tract, the Range, and the Beech Street Grounds, now it is called MacKenzie Field. (LOCATION) It was dedicated with that name on Labor Day September 4 1939 to honor John MacKenzie for his heroism on the USS Remlick on December 17 1917.

Before that it was graded over many years with one such year being 1929 when the Parks Department commented that it needed very much work and that the dingle area near it was ugly. Starting in 1930 the park was made into a sports recreation area. 2 diamonds, 2 football grids, 1 soccer field, a basketball court, and a golf range were added. It was made in 1932 as a sports complex. Then the WPA Works Progress Administration came to Holyoke to perform many projects and this was one of them. They the WPA built the stadium and the shelter house.

In 1935 the Beech Street Playground had figure and speed skating exhibitions that attracted 1000s of fans that would line the rink. The annual Ice Carnival was attended by the Holyoke Figure Skating Club among other groups in and outside the city. The largest crowd might have been at the Jan 21 1939 and the Feb 2 1941 editions where 5000 people attended.

In 1940 MacKenzie Field had a baseball diamond (last week of May), a quarter mile cinder track (along with long jump and pole vault areas), and some tennis courts added to it (these had been started in 1937 and completed three years later). Also an iron fence was added to the field with a base of fieldstones. In 1941 basketball courts were made at the field and this would be a staple of the area for many years. In 1942 MacKenzie Field was changed from a park into a playground a move which allowed fares to be charged. Finally in 1946 MacKenzie Field is finally fenced in. In 1947 night baseball started at MacKenzie Field.

By that year both Holyoke Catholic HS and Holyoke HS are using MacKenzie Field as their football stadium. In 1949 the back portion of the field was given to the city by Holyoke Water Power – this would become Alumni Field. In 1955 pro football came to Holyoke at this field. The team was called the Holyoke Knights from 1955 to 1958 and the same team was renamed to the Holyoke Merchants from 1959 to 1961. That is 7 straight seasons of pro football. The Holyoke Knights and Merchants would play their home games at MacKenzie Field. In 1965 and in 1973 Holyoke had minor league teams – the Bombers and the Pioneers.

From 1977 to 1982 the Holyoke Millers played their home games here. View a documentary about the team HERE.

credit to the Holyoke Transcript Telegram

Roberts Sports Field in Holyoke

Roberts Sports Complex (LOCATION) includes the Roland Pouliot Pool and the Morneau Tennis Courts. This area was once called Alumni Field. This field was formally dedicated on November 18 1967 at halftime during a game between Holyoke High and Holyoke Catholic High School. This was the home football field for both schools and had been since the start of that season. Before they were both at MacKenzie Field. Holyoke High School has had a football team since 1891. Holyoke Catholic High School had a football team since 1947 and their constituent schools – Rosary, Sacred Heart, and St Jerome – might have had teams before that.

Sheard Park

Sheard Park

Sheard Park (LOCATION) is named after William Sheard of Holyoke who died in 1944 in Germany during WW2. This was the last remnant of Elmwood Park. The steps lead into the park. It was renamed Sheard Park when that park was removed by the interstate in 1980. There is a rock with a plaque at the eastern corner of the park. His FINDAGRAVE page.

The William J Sheard Memorial Playground was made in 1961 as a playground and in 1962 officially dedicated to him. The park before that was called Poor Park. This Poor Park and then Sheard Playground was at the area now bordered by the end of the interstate and the parallel streets Maple and High. For safety, the area was enclosed by a fence.