page_title: Dexter Park (Queens)
section_title: Negro Leagues
hierarchical_section_title: Dexter Park (Queens) / Negro Leagues
caption_attribution_description: English: Dexter Field was illuminated in 1930, former horse race track and stock car track, famous for hosting Brooklyn Bushwick's of the Negro leagues, held 80yr attendance record for soccer final of National Challenge Cup match.
context_page_description: Dexter Park was a public park located in the neighborhood of Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, just north of Eldert Lane and Jamaica Avenue, not far from the borough line with Brooklyn. It had a long early history starting in the 19th century as a recreational park, which replaced a racetrack.
context_section_description: Dexter Park was the home of the Brooklyn Bushwicks, an independent semi-pro team that played there from 1913 until 1951, when they folded. The park was purchased for them from the Ulmer Brewery in 1922. The Bushwicks played many teams in the Negro Leagues as well as various All-Star teams. Dexter Park and the Bushwicks were owned by Max Rosner. The lighting system, which was first used on July 23, 1930, was among the first permanent lighting systems for night baseball in the U.S. and the first in New York City (Ebbets Field was not lighted for the Dodgers until 1938) and was designed and installed by Max Rosner's son, Herman Rosner, who was an electrical engineer. Many former Major League ballplayers were featured on the Bushwicks, like the Cuccinello brothers.  According to the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society sign at the site, the first night game at this venue was played in 1930. Josh Gibson once hit a home run over the 30-foot high wall behind the 418-foot deep left-center bleachers. The Brooklyn Farmers also played at Dexter Park, as did the Brooklyn Royal Giants, of the Negro Leagues, in the 1920s and 1930s.
  Dexter Park set an attendance high for a National Challenge Cup (soccer) final in 1929, when 21,583 fans saw New York Hakoah defeat Madison Kennel of St. Louis. A record that stood for more than 80 years, until October 5, 2010, when 31,311 attended an Open Cup final at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.
  Stock car racing was added to the site on April 15, 1951 and continued until 1955, when the park was sold and one and two family houses and a C-Town Supermarket were built on the site.
caption: Dexter Field, Home to Brooklyn Bushwicks, Negro Leagues
exif: {"Image Software": "Google"}