Sunlight Park
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| Former names | Toronto Baseball Grounds |
|---|---|
| Location | Queen Street East and west Broadview Avenue |
| Capacity | approx 2,200 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1886 |
| Closed | 1896 |
| Construction cost | $7,000.00 |
| Tenants | |
| Torontos | |
Sunlight Park was the first baseball stadium in Toronto, Canada. The all wood structure was built in 1886 by the International League baseball team the Torontos (soon renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs) at a cost of $7,000.
It was initially known as the Toronto Baseball Grounds . It stood south of Queen Street East, west of Broadview Avenue, north of Eastern Avenue, on the east side of the Smith Estate near the Don River, and had seating for 2,200 spectators, including a 550-seat reserved section. The stadium's grand opening was held on May 22, 1886 for an afternoon game against the "Rochesters" of Rochester, New York.[1] It came to be known as Sunlight Park after the Lever Brothers Sunlight Soap Works was built behind the outfield fence. The stadium hosted the city’s first professional baseball championship in 1887. The team and league folded in 1890 and the stadium lasted until 1896 when the team's new owners abandoned the park for their new Hanlan's Point Stadium. The park was used for local baseball leagues until well into the 20th century, when encroaching industrial uses predominated.
Today the site is a block of condo lofts, a car dealership car-park and the Don Valley Parkway on ramp, Eastern Avenue Diversion. The street Sunlight Park Road bears witness to the past, being the remnant Eastern Avenue Bridge approach cut by the parkway . The site is bounded by the Don Valley Parkway and the industrial buildings of the former Lever Brothers.
References
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See also
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