CANDLESTICK PARK

This page began as an article in the Re-Echo in June 2007.  Many thanks to Mr. Bob Ryan and Mr. Keith Meland for providing additional, valuable information after this story was first published.  Please Contact Us if you have more information or clarifications.
 

St. Louis Park was on the cusp of being the site of a national baseball stadium.  The first we hear of these plans comes from and article published on December 17, 1947 in the St. Louis Park Dispatch.  Here is the article in its entirety:

MILLERS PICK PARK FOR BASEBALL PARK, WILL CONSTRUCT ALL-PURPOSE STADIUM

An abandoned gravel pit in St. Louis Park is scheduled to become the site of a new ball park and all-sports stadium for the Minneapolis Millers.

 

Location of the 20-acre tract of land is at Wayzata boulevard and Zarthan Ave. on the south side of the highway, approximately across the road from McCarthy's cafe.

 

But before the stadium plans become an actuality, the new York Giants, owners of the Millers, must first secure village council approval of the project.

 

An application for rezoning from commercial development must be made and the council must approve building plans of the $1,500,000 ball park.

 

Announcement of the purchase of the Park property was made Monday by Horace Stoneham, president of the Giants, Wilfred "Rosy" Ryan, general manager of the Millers, and Maurice Hessian, Miller treasurer and attorney.

 

Under present plans the ground breaking and actual construction will start as soon as spring weather permits.  Plans are to have the stadium ready for use as early as possible in the 1950 American Association season.

 

Ryan, who lives in St. Louis Park, announced plans to call for a stadium to seat 17,500 spectators at baseball and around 25,000 for other events.

 

The stadium will be suitable and available for high school and other football contests, circuses, expositions and other entertainment such as open air concerts.

 

It is planned to model the plant in general after New York's Polo Grounds, which, a Giant spokesman points out, is one of the finest football stadiums in the country.  And like the Polo Grounds, the Giants intend to keep it busy.

 

Ryan said there is a bare chance work might progress sufficiently so that the new structure could be used for football next fall.

 

He said if things went smoothly lights could be in place by August and the gridders could go into action there even though the grandstand probably would still be roofless.

 

Hessian told The Dispatch Wednesday that the stadium would convert the abandoned gravel pit which is now a collecting place for waste water into a thing of beauty.

 

"We plan the finest brick structure with beautiful, suburban landscaping," he said.

 

At present, the first 135 feet back from the highway is zoned commercial, while the rest of the park tract is open development.  All except the first 135 feet fronting Wayzata boulevard is wasteland.

 

Reports are that the Giants and Millers considered two St. Louis Park sites before making a purchase.  The alternate site was reported to be on the Belt Line just north of Lilac Lanes - another gravel pit and eyesore.  [Now the site of Byerly's]

The promoters were the Minneapolis Baseball and Athletic Association (MBAA), owned by Giants owner Stoneham.  The MBAA purchased 33 acres from Keith McCarthy, who owned McCarthy's across Wayzata Blvd.  (The highway takes a dip at that point and McCarthy's was on the part of St. Louis Park that is north of it.)  Although the site was mostly an abandoned gravel pit, it appears that some houses were removed on Zarthan and Yosemite, and that a section of Yosemite was vacated.

The stadium would initially be built for the Minneapolis Millers.  The Millers team dated back to as early as 1884, but joined the American Association as a AAA team in 1902.  They played at Nicollet Park until 1955 - it was demolished in 1956 and is now the site of a Norwest Bank branch.  In 1956 they played at Met Stadium until the Twins came to town in 1961.  The Millers were a local team, but throughout the years they were affiliated with major league teams, such as the Boston Red Sox (1936-38 and 1958-60) and the New York Giants (1946-57).  Halsey Hall did the play-by-play from 1933 to 1960 when the club folded. 

It was during the time when the Millers were the Giants’ minor league team that a plan was formulated to lure the Giants themselves to the new stadium. Ryan lived in St. Louis Park and was a big booster of the SLP site. 

But the stadium was never built: there wasn’t enough room for parking, the Korean War caused a steel shortage and a moratorium on sports facilities, and by the time the war ended, plans for Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington had already begun. The Met opened in 1956 on a 161-acre site. 

Ryan was the General Manager of the Minneapolis Millers until 1957.  He eventually moved from St. Louis Park to Minneapolis to be closer to where the Millers played at Nicollet Ballpark.  He stayed with the Giants organization and served as the GM when the team became the Phoenix Giants from 1958 to 1959, the Tacoma Giants from 1960 to 1965, and then back to Phoenix from 1966 to 1973, where he retired. 

The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers - fierce rivals - both announced their moves to California in the summer of 1957.  The Giants moved to San Francisco and broke ground for their Candlestick Park in 1958. The stadium opened in 1960.  (This was the site of the Beatles’ last concert in 1966.)

The Giants chose the name Candlestick Park after a name-the-park contest on March 3, 1959. According to Wikipedia, it was named for Candlestick Point, a point of land jutting into San Francisco Bay.  Although the hopes to build the stadium were gone by 1956, somehow the name Candlestick got attached to the Minnesota property.  On October 31, 1966, the MBAA requested that Yosemite Lane be changed to Candlestick Drive.  And to this day, Candlestick Pond is located at 16th Street and Park Place. We would like to know more about Candlestick Pond (is it really full of VW bugs?), so please write to us.

After the deal went south, McCarthy’s sued the MBAA to get the land back, but Stoneman's estate held onto much of it for another 20 years, watching it quadruple in value. There were apparently some exceptions, which may include the Cooper Theater (1962-1992), the Ambassador Hotel (1961-1991), and the Lincoln Del West (1966-80).

Eventually the Stoneman estate went into bankruptcy, and hundreds of creditors wanted the property liquidated so they could recover part of the money that was owed them. The impasse over the ownership of the land was broken when  a St. Louis Park resident and also a shareholder in the Giants/MBAA, Eldon Rempfer decided to see if a restrictive covenant placed on the original sale by McCarthy could be removed.  The covenant would only allow alcoholic beverages to be sold in connection with major league baseball.  Eventually the covenant was removed and the property was finally sold in 1974.  Also the Lincoln Del and the Ambassador were able to get liquor licenses for the first time.

One source said that there was a 1,400 ft. frontage on Wayzata Blvd.  We're not exactly sure of the scope of the land, but the properties in that area today are (with address and build dates):

5201:  Lincoln Del West (1966-80), West End

5219:  Park Plaza Bank (1966-2009), West End

5245:  Ambassador Hotel (1961-1991), Chili's and Olive Garden (1992)

5305:  New building (2009)

5353:  Associated Bank (1980)

5555:  Doubletree Hotel (1981)

5657:  Strip shops (1981)

5755:  Cooper Theater (1962-1992), Stahl Construction (1995)

5775:  Park Place East (1980)

5875:  TGI Friday's (1996)

west of Zarthan:

5901:  Spring Hill Suites (2001)

It probably did not extend any further westward from this point because of the railroad tracks.

One more slightly problematic note:  The Evanoff Gardens were advertised as being across Wayzata Blvd. from McCarthy's, at 5445 Wayzata Blvd.  It had been there from at least 1934 and we have an ad for it from 1949.  What was the relationship there? 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.