From H-New Jersey:
The Christie Administration announced that Paterson’s Hinchliffe Stadium has been named a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The stadium is already listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.
Hinchliffe Stadium opened in 1932 and is one of only two surviving Negro Baseball League home fields in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Hinchliffe is an exceptional example of a Negro League baseball stadium in 20th-century segregated America. It served as home field for teams such as the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans. Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Leroy Satchel Paige and Paterson native Larry Doby all played at Hichliffe Stadium. Hinchliffe hosted the 1933 Colored Championship of the Nation.
Alternatively called “City” Stadium, Hinchliffe was built with public funds at the start of the Great Depression. The stadium also served as a venue for boxing, auto racing and professional football. In the early 1960s Paterson’ schools took ownership of Hinchliffe and enlarged the facility. Despite being in use into the 1990s, Hinchliffe fell into disrepair and was closed at the end of the 1996-97 school year.
Learn more about this historic stadium and the campaign to save Hinchliffe at the Friends of Hinchliffe website.
See a slideshow of Hinchliffe as it appears today at digitalballparks.com.
Watch a 2006 video on the historical significance of Hinchliffe created by Brian LoPinto who grew up in Paterson and is co-founder of the Friends of Hinchcliffe (2006).