John Shearer: Exploring And Searching For Greenways, Part 18: The Lincoln Park And Engel Stadium Corridor

On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 24, while looking for possibly another park to go exercising in and exploring for another greenway story, I decided to go down to historic Lincoln Park behind Erlanger Hospital.

 

After taking a few laps there, I decided to go down Central Avenue and circle around Engel Stadium. 

 

I ended up discovering a lot more at the latter than just the outside of the stadium, and I also realized for the first time that these two seemingly different parcels that hardly anyone connects with each other almost seem like the same greenway space.

 

The only problem, of course, is that getting from one end to the other requires crossing busy East Third Street.

And, even though I went there on that Saturday and again on Halloween to get some pictures when the weather was nicer, during the week the traffic going to the hospital and surrounding health-related facilities increases greatly. 

 

As a result, Manhattan’s Broadway would not be any more of a hindrance than Third Street for a power walker or jogger not wanting to have to stop.  

 

However, I guess they could still have a nice sidewalk or walking path in additional places between Lincoln Park and Engel Stadium to make that area easier to traverse than it is right now.

 

But each area is still nice within itself and worth visiting for exercising and rejuvenation on its own, even if they might not draw many people from other areas of town.

 

When I went on that first Saturday, I happened to find a nice parking space near Lincoln Park, which is probably hard during the week, and jogged some laps around the large spacious fields. 

 

Among the attributes here are some simply beautiful arched stone entrance gates that have a New Deal-era look of construction to them, some hardwood trees, and a baseball field with vintage-style bleachers featuring wooden sitting areas.

 

It is a nice setting that is ideal for people like me, who enjoy a grassy area big enough to jog around for a half hour without getting bored. But the view of the towering Erlanger-related buildings does not compare to a glance at the surrounding mountains or the Tennessee River.

 

Some nearby homes that probably date to the park’s early days and some maple trees are nice aesthetics, though, and give the site the feel of being a neighborhood park.

 

As many Chattanoogans know, Lincoln Park is a historic park that was built for use by the city’s Black residents during the days of segregation. It opened in 1918 and over the years featured a WPA-constructed swimming pool and bathhouse, a small zoo and amusement park, and, of course, a baseball field, where such future major leaguers as Willie Mays and Satchel Paige played on teams.

 

It was once larger than it is today, and the neighborhood around the green space has also been called Lincoln Park.

 

Although once a city park, it is now owned by Erlanger Hospital. In recent decades, it has been in the news for everything from being eyed for Erlanger developments to a Central Avenue extension through part of it linking with Amnicola Highway.

 

Needless to say, the park has not gotten a lot of respect locally in a collective sense, but it is still hanging in there. And that alone earns it a tip of the hat.

 

While I would consider the old park a gem of Chattanooga on its history alone, it is badly calling out for some enhancements. And I don’t just mean filling in the hole in the outfield I discovered while jogging.

 

A paved walking area around the outskirts is sorely needed, as well as some additional plantings and other nicer landscaping. And a few plaques that tell the rich story of this space would be nice, too. And above all, it seems to be calling out to remain a park and perhaps be placed under the Chattanooga parks and recreation department again.

 

After running there that first Saturday for about 15 minutes, I then jogged down Central Avenue toward East Third Street and was trying to stay on the softer grass along the sidewalk. That is, even though a sign in front of the Ronald McDonald House I passed had a sign saying not to step on the grass. Sorry, Ronald!

 

After waiting for the light, I crossed over and began jogging on the nice and spacious grassy area in front of the side of the Erlanger Sports and Health Institute facing Third Street. Beyond it in a southerly direction is another grassy knoll, which might be future construction in the eyes of Erlanger but to me should be some kind of park space, too.

 

I then glanced at all the neat older houses along East Fifth Street, and then I saw that up at the southeast corner of East Fifth and Central Avenue is a vacant lot covered with trees. It seemed to be calling out to be turned into a shaded picnic area. That was the nicest surprise to me of all the green spaces I found on this day.

 

Just down from it on O’Neal Street is a nice grassy area with giant shrubs and some trees and a couple of signs saying the Chi Omega and Alpha Game Delta sorority houses of UTC are to be built there in the near future. 

 

To get to these places, I had gone past Engel Stadium on my left and felt as if I had come home, to use baseball vernacular, due to all the games I witnessed there over the years. Needless to say, I stopped and peeked in that metal gate on the third base side at the beloved old ballpark.

 

In my opinion, Engel Stadium has 10 times the charm, character and beauty of the current AT&T Field, even though brick-covered Engel obviously could use a little more upkeep. I sure wish the UTC-owned facility could be used more either for high school tournaments, an occasional Lookouts game (in non-COVID-19 times, of course), and maybe as the site of some kind of museum to Chattanooga baseball or sports history.

 

And history it does have. Within that pretty stadium, I once saw Bo Jackson hit a home run and Michael Jordan get multiple hits. And those events were when the stadium was already more than 50 years old and had previously seen the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jackie Robinson.

 

The outside of the stadium during my recent visit also has some natural grace in action in the form of simply some maple trees changing into their colorful fall uniforms. 

 

Another new touch is the fact that UTC has painted the back of the rightfield wall with a few gallons of whitewash and a few Power C’s.

 

In front of this wall are some UTC beach volleyball courts, and to the south a few feet across a parking area are some fields used for everything from UTC women’s varsity soccer to intramural and club competition in that and other sports. This facility that just opened in 2019 is also used for UTC band practice.

 

The sports complex looks great, although I would have made the area natural grass. 

 

But what surprised me in a good way and gave me the concept of this being an additional greenway and park area not far from Lincoln Park is that just southeast of Engel Stadium is a circular walking path of roughly a quarter mile, with a nice grassy area inside it. 

 

It sits next to the train tracks, and it also features plaques to five historical places or people in the area, from Engel Stadium, which opened in 1930, to Lincoln Park. They were done with a grant and with the help of the UTC history department. So, kudos to them, even if some of the wordage is not totally objective as is usually found on a plaque.

 

There is also a small grassy area just north of the circular path and north of the beach volleyball courts. Both could be nice picnic areas, and the former might even make a great place to put a little stage and have mini-concerts for UTC students or maybe Fort Wood residents willing to walk a block or two.

 

And the area with the circular path has a neat view in a southwest direction past some older homes of beautiful Lookout Mountain in the distance. 

 

Seeing this mountain amid blue skies on such a nice Halloween morning during my second visit made me think back to my youth of going to explore some local place with my mother on a Saturday morning and looking forward to the experience.

 

And as I jogged in this area of familiar and new scenes, I felt rejuvenated and ready to keep on running, even at the age of 61.

 

I definitely did not feel like getting stopped trying to cross East Third Street, either!

 

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To see the previous entry in this series, read here.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2020/10/19/416907/John-Shearer-Exploring-And-Searching.aspx

 

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jcshearer2@comcast.net