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.
