place

Sulphur Dell

1870 establishments in Tennessee1963 disestablishments in TennesseeAmerican football venues in TennesseeBaseball venues in TennesseeDefunct baseball venues in the United States
Defunct college football venuesDefunct sports venues in TennesseeHistory of Nashville, TennesseeJewel Box parksNashville VolsSports venues completed in 1870Sports venues demolished in 1969Sports venues in Nashville, TennesseeTennessee State Tigers football
Sulphur Dell in color
Sulphur Dell in color

Sulphur Dell, formerly known as Sulphur Spring Park and Athletic Park, was a baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was located just north of the Tennessee State Capitol building in the block bounded by modern-day Jackson Street, Fourth Avenue North, Harrison Street, and Fifth Avenue North. The ballpark was home to the city's minor league baseball teams from 1885 to 1963. The facility was demolished in 1969. Amateur teams began playing baseball in the area known as Sulphur Spring Bottom as early as 1870 when it was a popular recreation area noted for its natural sulphur spring. A wooden grandstand was built in 1885 to accommodate patrons of the Nashville Americans, who were charter members of the original Southern League. Several other professional baseball teams followed the Americans, but the ballpark's longest tenant was the Southern Association's Nashville Vols, who played there from 1901 to 1963. Sportswriter Grantland Rice coined the Sulphur Dell moniker in 1908. The stadium's original alignment, in which home plate faced southwest toward the Capitol, meant that batters would often have to compete with the afternoon sunlight shining in their eyes. Prior to the 1927 season, the ballpark was demolished and rebuilt as a concrete-and-steel structure on the southwestern side of the block with home plate facing northeast. The ballpark's best-known features were its short distance to the right field wall (262 ft (80 m)) and its significant terrace or sloping outfield: a steep incline that ran along the entire outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields. In its prime, Sulphur Dell was nestled in an area that was home to the city's garbage dump, stockyards, and other various warehouses. The Vols folded after the conclusion of the 1963 season. Amateur baseball teams played there in 1964, and it was converted to a speedway for three weeks in 1965. The stadium then served as a tow-in lot for Metro Nashville, before being demolished on April 16, 1969. Until 2014, it was the location of a number of parking lots used by state employees. Since 2015, it has been the location of First Horizon Park, the home stadium of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds baseball team.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sulphur Dell (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sulphur Dell
Cumberland River Greenway, Nashville-Davidson

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Sulphur DellContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 36.172777777778 ° E -86.785555555556 °
placeShow on map

Address

First Horizon Park

Cumberland River Greenway
37219 Nashville-Davidson
Tennessee, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Sulphur Dell in color
Sulphur Dell in color
Share experience

Nearby Places

First Horizon Park
First Horizon Park

First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 through 2014. The park was built on the site of the former Sulphur Dell, a minor league ballpark in use from 1885 to 1963. It is located between Third and Fifth Avenues on the east and west (home plate, the pitcher's mound, and second base are directly in line with Fourth Avenue to the stadium's north and south) and between Junior Gilliam Way and Harrison Street on the north and south. The Nashville skyline can be seen from the stadium to the south. The design of the park incorporates elements of Nashville's baseball and musical heritage and the use of imagery inspired by Sulphur Dell, the city's former baseball players and teams, and country music. Its most distinctive feature is its guitar-shaped scoreboard—a successor to the original guitar scoreboard at Greer Stadium. The ballpark's wide concourse wraps entirely around the stadium and provides views of the field from every location. Though primarily a venue for the Nashville Sounds, collegiate and high school baseball teams based in the area, such as the Vanderbilt Commodores and Belmont Bruins, have played some games at the ballpark. Nashville SC, a soccer team of the United Soccer League Championship, played its home matches at the facility from 2018 to 2019. It has also hosted other events, including celebrity softball games and various food and drink festivals.