Though best known as Latta Park, this athletic field started its life as the Mecklenburg Fairgrounds. The venue was replaced by the short-lived Latta Park II as the city's primary athletic venue. It was used annually for many of Davidson's most major football games.

Overall, NC State had a record of 1-1-2 at this field, with no conference games played.

  * Non-conference games

Charlotte entrepreneur Edward Dilworth Latta was a member of the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company, also known as The Four C's. In 1891, Latta christened his new Dilworth neighborhood, a formerly-remote portion of the city opened up thanks to the dawn of the street car, a venture which Latta also had a hand in. The businessmen included a public park on the property which they called Latta Park. Much of the public park was built on the former property of the Mecklenburg Fairgrounds, which had been home of several ephemeral fairs since the tract was purchased with the assistance of Charlotte's city government in 1870.

Though the old fairgrounds grounds were equipped with a half-mile racetrack and several buildings and pavillions, their usage was intermittent and inconsistent. The fact Latta developed them into a pleasure park is unsurprising: public editorials had clamored for their conversion to such a purpose as early as 1876. The Four C's purchased the old fairgrounds (among other properties) in 1890 and immediately went to work tearing down most of the old structures for their new venue. The original grandstand (seating about 1,500-2,000 persons) was retained, and a second 1,000-person stand was built "within the circuit of the old Mecklenburg Fair race track" especially for female patrons, making the capacity about 3,000 persons when it first opened in May 1891 [1].

That baseball diamond was located on the southeastern corner of the racetrack. After just one season of play at that spot, Charlotte endeavored to enter the South Atlantic League, and knew their ad hoc grounds wouldn't cut it. A new 550' x 400' spot "at the lower end of [East] boulevard, just [north] of the woods" was selected at the end of March, and a new $1,500 (over $52,000 in 2025), 1,000-person grandstand was erected using the material from the old stand. Presumably, this new one was the northwest edge of the race track, at the corner of Avondale (now Park Rd) and East Boulevard. I've found nothing to indicate the track changed locations over this time, so I have decided to count both locations as the same field [2].

The field continued to play host to local football and baseball games. The grounds were used without major modifications for several years until the Fall 1896 when Latta began musing how to retool his grounds. His idea was to make a concentric series of tracks, with a 1/2-mile horse track circumnavigating a 1/4-mile bicycle track and a baseball diamond in the center, flanked by a new grandstand situated to offer viewing of all three; this was to be located south of the previous diamond. A 1/3-mile cycle track was built, but in a different location: "just at the end of the car line," though where exactly that is is unclear; presumably, that was somewhere along Springdale Ave. This was certainly different from the baseball grounds, whose distance from the car line had long drawn the ire of local sports fans [3].

Change came again in 1902, when the formerly-transient fair took on some signs of permanence under the guise of the Mecklenburg Fair Association. Returning for its third straight year, the group elected to improve the fairgrounds. Principal among this was improving the existing loop to be of better condition, building a second grandstand especially for racing, and constructing specialty buildings, including a flower hall. Though there were discussions of demolishing the old grandstand (which was "in bad shape") and either converting it to bleachers, but it seems to have simply been moved further back from the track. The new grandstand was reported to seat 2,500 persons and cost $3,500 (just over $125k in 2025). The stands blew down during a severe storm in 1904, killing one horse and "dangerously" injuring another four. It was replaced with a near-identical stand with a $3,000 price tag [4].

The racetrack grandstand became the main one used at Latta for several years while Charlotte went without pro-level baseball; the baseball diamond fell into disuse. When baseball came back in 1905, Latta Park was repaired to the extent possible to host the second iteration of the Virginia-Carolina League. After the season, though, fans made it clear the grounds were not their preferred location: "The diamond is too low," complained one local baseball fan in Charlotte News, "and the grand stand too far away" -- over 100 feet from home plate. The field was also not of regulation dimensions, and to boot, flooded often.

Charlotte didn't host another formal baseball team (the Hornets) until 1908, so changed waited until then; by that time, the stands were also considered structurally unsafe. Simultaneously, the Mecklenburg Fair Association was in search for new prospective fairgrounds, as Mr. Latta had informed them of his desire to convert much of the property into a new development. Desiring to spend money on a new diamond that wouldn't be suburbs in less than a few years, promoters began looking elsewhere. The new location, Latta Park II, was an improvement in the grounds, but did not dodge the development question, as they still resided on The Four C's future neighborhood.

Though the new park was developed, the two grandstands at the racetrack remained, and the old field continued to be utilized for Hornets practices in early 1908, and amateur games as late as November. Additionally, the track remained at the fairgrounds, as did both grandstands. Tragically, though, the racetrack grandstand burnt down just days before the 1911 fair. After just over 4 decades of use, the fair valiantly soldiered on, holding the races, livestock exhibits, and midway festivities. Though suspended prematurely on the final day because of rainy weather, the final fair was considered a rousing success; the association endeavored to go out with a bang, being unsure of their future status. All the wood from the site's fencing and remaining grandstand were auctioned off in November, though a new site was chosen by August 1912. The old fairgrounds were slowly developed into residential lots throughout the next few years; the final game report I've found was in August 1912; its development was described as "very rapid" in January 1913 [5].

Pictures of Latta Park I