EF Resources

Elysian Fields Resources from Bob Bailey

From: Bob Bailey <bobbailey@cox.net>
To: Larry McCray <lmccray@mit.edu>
Cc: Peter Mancuso <peterplus4@earthlink.net>
Date: September 12, 2022 at 10:00 AM
Subject: Potential Sources to Seek Elysian Fields History

Larry,

Thanks for taking the time Saturday morning to discuss the Elysian Fields Project.

Below you will find my notes on potential Sources to be gone through to collect data on EF.

Newspaper: Hoboken Advertiser Feb 2, 1878- June 2,1883

Hoboken Public Library (HPL) Online History Collection: City Directories, old newspapers, maps, scrapbooks, oral histories.

            Other HPL Hoboken History Holdings: Books, Photos, Jersey City and Hoboken City Directories, Jersey Journal (May 2,1867-              December 31, 1999).

            Diary of Philip Hove 1828-1851, 2 volumes (Dodd, Mead, 1927). See Volume 2, page 861. See also Brian Danforth,              "Hoboken and the Affluent New Yorker's Search for Recreation," New Jersey History, 95 (1977), pg, 133-44.

Odds and Ends from Wikipedia Elysian Fields entry: horse track opened 1834; Knickerbockers first game June 19, 1846 (note that there is evidence of 37 prior games before the Knicks at Elysian Fields.

Internet Archive (archive.org): "Sportsmen and Gamesmen" by John Dizikes, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1981. See page 91-120: Data on Stevens Family. (archive.org/details/sportsmengamesmen0000dizi/page/94/mode/2up).

Internet Archive (archive.org): "American Sports: From the age of folk games to the age of television sports," by Benjamin G. Rader, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Internet Archive (archive.org): Terms of will of E.A. Stevens setting up Stevens Institute in Hoboken on land from Elysian Fields.       (archive.org/details/announcementofst00stev/page/n1/mode/2up. [Announcement of the Stevens Institute of Technology: a school of mechanical engineering, founded by Edwin A. Stevens, Esq., Hoboken, NJ, 1873.]

Internet Archive (archive.org): 'The National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the Republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time. volume XI, New York: James T. White and Company, 1901. Entries in Vol. II: John Cox  (1749-1838) pg. 21; Robert Livingston Stevens (1787-1859) pg. 21-22; Edwin Augustus Stevens (1795-1868) pg. 22-23. In Volume I John Cox Stevens (Yachtsman) Vol1, pg. 447.

-John Stevens Collection, 1808-1881 #333. (Reference from Wikipedia entry on John Stevens. Other references cited.

Hoboken Land & Improvement Company was the vehicle for Stevens Family development and sale of Hoboken Property. In 1889 office address was 1 Newark St., Hoboken, NJ. (note: by 1943 Hoboken Land & Improvement Company located in Newark, NJ).

Stevens Institute Archives

Stevens Family Papers 1663-1959- New Jersey Historical Society Library, Newark, NJ.

Hoboken Land & Improvement Company Properties- Hoboken, NJ: Maps in New Jersey Environmental Digital Library, Rutgers University Library, RU Core: Rutgers University Community Repository.

Topics with significant Stevens family involvement- Railroading, Yachts, Naval Warfare, Horticulture & Water Works, Hoboken growth, The Castle- Stevens Institute of Technology, Civic Engagement (topic on Stevens Family in Hoboken Historical Museum website.

National Sailing Hall of Fame, Newport, RI-- John Cox Stevens- 1st Commodore of NYC Yacht Club, deeply involved with Americas Cup races

Stevens Family Collection at Samuel C. Williams Library, Stevens Institute, Hoboken, NJ.

"Stevens Family" entry in catalogue of Hoboken Historical Museum, 1301 Hudson Street, Hoboken, NJ. hobokenmuseum.org/explore-hoboken/historic-highlights/stevens-family/full-list-of-sources/. This list gives give Hoboken Historical Museum holds of books, Article & pamphlets, Digital documents, archived documents, and photos held by museum. List is three pages long.)

Elysian Fields Baseball Monument at 11th and Washington Sts, Hoboken.

Other notes: John Stevens began ferry from Manhattan to Hoboken October 11, 1811. Hoboken formed as a township April 9, 1849. Hoboken became a city in 1855. The north end of Castle Point Terrace ends at site of Elysian Fields. Portions of 1954 movie "On the Waterfront" filmed there. Other sites in Hoboken also used for filming.

Rough boundaries of Elysian Fields: Fields ran south to north from present day 8th Street to the southern edge of what is today Weehawken (around 12th street), and west to east from Washington Street to the river.

Since most of the area NJ newspapers don't start publication until after the Civil War, I suspect that much of the newspaper coverage of the Elysian Fields appears in New York City papers. NYC was the home of the Stevens family for many years after they acquired the Hoboken property, building a summer house there. The Stevens Ferry business must have advertised in NYC for passengers to NJ and while developing Elysian Fields NYC papers appear to be the best source for contemporary stories. I suspect the NY Public Library has the best collection of NYC papers. Many may also be held at Rutgers University Library.

Larry, as we discussed Saturday I think the story of the development of Elysian Fields is central to the development of baseball in the era. We begin to see spectators at events there with the decline as a sporting venue perhaps being caused by the development of Central Park. Proposals for developing Central Park begin in the 1840s with Olmstead getting the development contract in 1857. A small portion of the park opened in 1858 and the park was completed in 1876. While baseball and cricket were not allowed in Central Park, in the 1860 the construction of the Union Grounds and Capitoline Grounds moved the baseball focus from Hoboken to Brooklyn.

In any event, I believe the project should collect every bit of data, photos, maps, and other writings on Elysian Fields to create as complete and archive and research resource as possible on the site. This includes getting copies of any photos or maps of the area. Since we may assemble a substantial resource, this is where the SABR Local Grants Program comes in to fund copying, photographing, and other out-of-pocket costs associated with the project.

Best,

Bob