South Side Park (or Southside Park) was an athletic venue located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina from 1892-circa 1912; it was never the primary home field of any college team. It was partially replaced by Fairview Park in 1905, but endured even after that venue's demise.

Overall, NC State had a record of 1-0 at this field, playing the final game of their first complete season at South Side Park.

  * Non-conference games

South Side Park was among the first permanent athletic parks in Winston-Salem; actually, it was so old, it predated the conjoining of the Twin Cities, being located in Salem. The park was created by the Winston-Salem Land & Investment Company, a property development conglomeration formed by interests from New York, Philadelphia, Roanoke, and even England. When the grounds were first identified in 1891, the neighborhood was so new that the bridge fording the Salem Creek (formerly known as Middle Fork Creek, and later, Wachovia Brook) was incomplete, as was the street car line to service the future athletic field and development. A site was finally picked in mid-March 1892, and opened by late April [1].

Once it opened, South Side Park sporadically hosted major Winston-Salem sporting events as the South Side continued to grow. Annually from 1896-1898 the park held neutral site baseball games featuring the University of North Carolina, hosting Princeton the first year, Lehigh the second, and Johns Hopkins the final year; later that Fall, the site also hosted a football game between UNC and Virginia Tech. Other major events include an intrasquad spring training game by the professional Boston Bean-Eaters in 1898, and the 1904 Davidson-Guilford football game. The final major action hosted on the grounds worth noting was the 1905 Davidson-Washington & Lee baseball game, which was relocated to the grounds only because the new Fairview Park was too wet to use. It was home to the Winston-Salem's baseball team (when extant) until 1903, but otherwise featured predominately local baseball action for the duration of its life [2].

Like the ebbs and flows of usage, the park's condition also went through peaks and valleys. The street railway repaired it to tip-top shape in 1902 and again in 1903, when new bleachers were ereceted and the field leveled. Even with an existing grandstand and the new bleacers, seated capacity at the park remained below 375 patrons. Period field dimensions have not been found, but in gridiron layout, it was evidently not large: during the 1904 Davidson-Guilford game it was noted that Guilford's lone score in the game came after "a punted ball... glanced from a tree too near the grounds and fell behind [Davidson's] goal line," where it was landed upon by a Guilford player [3].

Unfortunately, identifying an exact location has been difficult. Besides the clue that it was on the grounds of the Winston-Salem Land & Investment Co. (the following references to blocks and lots reference the company's map and that of it's successor, Sherwood Heights), there are not many clues. The best landmarks come largely from house construction: the homes of George and Martha Zimmerman (Block 66, Lot 18 -- southern corner of Sunnyside and Lomond) in 1902, W. L. Foster's lot ("Jersey Heights," between Sprague, Lomond, Devonshire, and Patra) in 1909, and D. C. Rose's residence (Block 66, Lots 14 through 16 -- near the intersection of Sunnyside, Goldfloss, and Lucille) were all noted to be near South Side Park [4].

Other key indicators came from descriptions of work done to or near the field. A 1910 rehabilitation of the grounds noted the park was "just beyond the Forsyth Chair Co." (Block 36, Lots 9-11 -- southwest corner of Acadia and Sunnyside). An 1897 article on local road improvements noted that a public road (presumably Sunnyside Ave) connected "the South Side Base Ball Park and the [Arista / Southside] Cotton Factory" (Block 58 -- between Goldfloss, Glendale, Brookline, and Vargrave). Finally, it was noted to be twice as far from the County Courthouse as Fairview Park when the latter grounds opened in 1905. As the bird flies, Fairview Park was just over a mile from the courthouse; assuming generous reporting, a 2-mile radius from the courthouse location is roughly Sprague Street on the south and Glendale Street on the east [5] [9].

Finally, I believe the South Side Park grounds were the same grounds that a quarter-mile bicycle track built on in 1894. Modern reports indicate that track's location was "just over the top of Main street hill, beyond the Fishel house site" (at 1919 S Main St). While the track has not been confirmed to have been the same location, a handful of reports of baseball games in 1902-1903 mention a track interfering with play, with the June 1903 game between Concord and Winston in particular noting that Lindsay slugged a hit "to the other side of the bicycle track" [6] [7].

Because of this confluence of facts and the absence of a more definitive identification, I believe the land was approximately Block 78, Lots 1-7 of the WSL&I map, which were first purchased by William A. Blair, Henry Bahnson*, and Joseph H. Stockton -- a trio of local men closely involved with the development of the WSL&I -- in January 1893. This location is directly adjacent to the street car route, is "beyond" (south of) the Forsyth Chair Co. property, is near the Foster, Rose, Zimmerman, and Fishel properties, is on a road that runs between its assumed location and the Southside Cotton Mill, and is just over two miles from the courthouse. At 350' long x 150' wide, the area was just shy of being wide enough to hold a football field, but likely could have spilled over into the adjoining road or properties if needed.

A second circumstantial piece of information linking this location to the grounds is the fact that usage of the park ceased about 1912. That same period is about when amateur teams representing the city's Southside area began playing their games at other grounds, mainly the so-called "Standpipe Grounds" (believed to be near the intersection of Stadium Drive / modern-day Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Waughtown Street) or Park Avenue Diamond (at the present location of Salem Academy). The Block 78 lots were sold to the Central Terrace development, just west of Patra and Sunnyside, in 1912, and were redeveloped at that time. The lots and roads making up Block 78 were re-drawn in a different orientation [8] [9].

Though South Side Park was one of Winston-Salem's premier athletic venues, its time came and passed. Fairview Park opened far to Winston's north side in 1905, and Prince Albert Park opened a half mile south of that 1911, both usurping South Side's place as the premier park. Piedmont Park, a horse racing and agricultural fair venue, opened even further to the north in 1899 and pitched in as an athletic venue in the intervening years as well.

Care should also be taken not to confuse this South Side Park with the succeeding South Side Park, which opened in 1921 as Twin City Athletic Park. That field, located about the present location of the North Carolina School of the Arts, was home to the Winston-Salem Twins from its opening through 1956, when it burnt down (for a second and final time). The land was sold shorltly therafter to the city, who used it to expand Gray High School. Though the high school has since closed, a portion of Gray High's buildings were converted into the current UNCSA campus.

* Dr. Henry Bahnson's involvement is especially interesting, as his son, Agnew Hunter Bahnson, was involved in local baseball matters, even establishing his own baseball field, Bahnson Field (not presently located). Though not an athlete in his own regard, he was student manager of the 1905 UNC football team.

Pictures of South Side Park