Loading...
 

Forest Park

Forest Park was a baseball park in Pine Bluff, AR, and was the home field of the Pine Bluff Lumbermen in 1904 and the Pine Bluff Pine Knotts in 1908.

History

Forest Park, also known as Bell Park, was an amusement park operated by the Citizens' Light and Transit Company beginning about 1904.1 The park was located southwest of Pine Bluff and was roughly bordered by 31st, Elm, 34th and Hickory streets.2 In addition to the baseball field, which was perhaps located at about 32nd and Plum streets today, Forest Park included a theater, zoo, dance hall, and various amusement rides and booths. The baseball park seated about 2,000.3

Forest Park may have been used by the Pine Bluff Lumberman of the Cotton States League during half of the 1903 season.4 5 Afterward, it was used by the Lumberman for the entirety of the 1904 season. Because it was far from the center of Pine Bluff, the team chose to play the 1905 season in Jones Park (Pine Bluff) instead.6 The following season, however, the Pine Bluff Barristers in the Arkansas-Texas League returned minor league baseball to Forest Park.7 In 1908, Forest Park was again selected as the home of the Pine Bluff Pine Knotts in the Arkansas State League

Excerpts

"The interests of the Citizens' Light and Transit Company and of the Pine Bluff Baseball Association have been harmonized, and the association has decided to play ball at Bell Park during the coming season."8