Carson Park (Eau Claire, WI)

Ask anyone from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, about their hometown, and they’re sure to mention Carson Park. This classic baseball stadium, built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding between 1935 and 1937, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the “crown jewel” of the city in the eyes of many.

That’s an apt description.

Carson Park sparkles as the home for baseball in this small city, which had a population of 65,000 as of the 2020 US Census.

It shines as a place where the community comes together for celebrations.

And it glitters as the playing field that launched the careers of many major leaguers—among them Bill Bruton, Wes Covington, Johnny Goryl, Bob Uecker, Vic Johnson, Joe Torre, Andy Pafko, and most of all, Henry “Hank” Aaron.

It’s simply a “fine place to play and watch a ballgame,” wrote Jerry Poling, former sports editor of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and author of A Summer Up North, a book about Aaron’s 1952 minor league season in the city—his first in integrated professional baseball.1 “It’s a place where memories are made,” added Monte Bluske, a local accountant who chaired a late 1990s fund drive for improvements to the ballpark.2

The stadium is located on a 132-acre peninsula jutting into Half Moon Lake in the city’s center. The peninsula, also known as Carson Park, was given to the city by the heirs of lumber baron William F. Carson in 1914. It had been used by Carson’s company to saw and store logs for shipment down the Chippewa River.3 The city developed the land into a pleasant public space—opened on August 12, 1915, and named in honor of the donating family. Originally, the peninsula was accessible via a footbridge, but a roadway replaced the footbridge in 1933. Later, a second bridge connected the land to Menominee Street at its southern boundary.

The idea for public parkland on the property can be traced as far back as 1889, when city fathers thought its natural beauty might make it a perfect space for recreation and relaxation.4 The concept of playing fields was introduced in 1916, when the Eau Claire Leader newspaper described a more specific plan for improvements to the park. A sketch drawn by Minneapolis landscape designer C.H. Ramsdell, then displayed in the window of the Haanstad and Johnson clothing store downtown, depicted baseball, football, and tennis facilities and a parking area for autos.

“To bring all this about means the expenditure of good sums of money from year to year,” the article noted. The committee floating the idea offered to put down the first $1,500.5

Two decades later, improvements to the full park were completed and included not only the baseball stadium, but several tennis courts; a football field with seating for 6,500; and 18 horseshoe courts. In 1936, the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp opened as a public venue to document the area’s logging history. In 1974, the Chippewa Valley Museum moved its headquarters to the park from a house owned by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. A miniature railway started circling the peninsula in 1987. Today, the area includes the Gelein and Hobbs softball diamonds, site of several national softball tournaments.6

The Carson Park baseball field was constructed for $60,000, with half the amount coming from city coffers and the other half from the Roosevelt administration’s WPA.  According to the 2003 application for the National Register of Historic Places designation of Carson Park, written by local historians Eric J. Wheeler and Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, WPA administrators were eager to support ballparks as places for recreation and entertainment for a Depression-weary population.7 WPA funds were used for many other baseball parks around the country and several in the Northern League, among them Wade Stadium in Duluth, Minnesota; Municipal Stadium in Aberdeen, South Dakota (since demolished); and Corbett Field in Minot, North Dakota.  The grandstand section of Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, was reconstructed with WPA funds, as well.8

Crossing the causeway from Lake Street into Carson Park, the roadway curves around Braun’s Bay and climbs through a grove of pine and maple. Suddenly, the historic ballpark appears on a gentle rise, its light grey sandstone-faced grandstand looking like a broad forehead among the trees. The stone came from the Dunville Stone Quarry near Downsville, Wisconsin, south of Eau Claire. The same material was used to build the high altar at St. Thomas Church in New York City.9 Five 20-foot-high sandstone blocks form the shallow circular façade of the grandstand, C-shaped, like a cupped hand sheltering the field. Over a bright red and white Eau Claire logo, a large metal sign identifies the park as the “Home of Eau Claire Baseball.”

On the plaza in front of the stadium, a bronze statue of Aaron highlights the Eau Claire Baseball Hall of Fame—an arrangement of plaques celebrating the most prominent players and baseball leaders from the city and surrounding area.

Fans enter the park through gates in a chain-link fence and climb well-worn green-painted wooden steps to find a spot in just 14 rows of roof-covered seating between the first- and third-base lines. Six rows of vertical steel columns divide the seating areas and obstruct some views. Under the single-pitch rolled asphalt roof, the seating capacity is 1,500. Unroofed bleachers extend down each foul line; in the fall, the bleachers on the third base side are moved against the left-field fence to provide seating for the adjacent football field. A “party deck,” constructed more recently, wraps around the right-field foul pole. Plastic chairs can be added along the right field line so that the maximum number of fans inside the park is around 5,000. Eleven light towers ring the field. A press box spans the top of the grandstand, an enlargement of the single rectangular cupola that housed sports journalists in the 1930s.10

The Historic Places designation contains a precise description of the playing field: “Typical of ballpark planning, the home plate-pitcher’s mound-second base axis runs southwest to northeast to avoid interference from the summer sun. The field is mostly square and enclosed with a chain-link fence that is eight feet high on the south and west and ten feet high on the east and north. Distance from home plate to the center field wall is 388 feet. The distance from home plate to the right field wall is 312 feet; the distance from home plate to the left field wall is 320 feet. Outfield and infield turf is a mix of rye and bluegrass. Infield base lines, foul lines and warning track are raked crushed limestone. A drainage system installed in 1997 handles heavy rains. The scoreboard is 10 feet by 30 feet and illuminated. There are two bull pens on either side of the field.”11

The application further describes the areas beneath the grandstand. These passageways and tunnels differ from the wide concession-lined concourses common among ball parks today, but retain the park’s historic character. “Concessions and bathrooms are found under the main stand in a tunnel that is pleasantly claustrophobic and old school,” according to the website Ballpark Brothers, based on a visit in 2023. “Everything about Carson Park evokes baseball of a bygone era, while providing ample conveniences for the modern baseball fan. This is a real gem.”12

The Eau Claire community shared that appreciation for their new stadium. Over 3,000 fans turned out for the first game played there on May 4, 1937, with the Class C Northern League Eau Claire Bears taking on the Superior Blues. Local resident Thomas Melton bought the first ticket after waiting for hours for the box office to open. Eau Claire, then a farm team of the Chicago Cubs, lost the game 7-5. Eau Claire Mayor D.D. Lockerby threw out the first pitch to city council member Fred Stussy. According to their agreement, had Stussy caught it, the ball was his. But he muffed it, so the mayor took the baseball home. The high school band marched into the stadium carrying the American flag. Governor Phillip LaFollette was on hand to address the crowd and reportedly bought bags of peanuts for the youngsters in the stands near his seat.13

The game also launched the scoreboard-keeping career of teenager Colonel E. Linderholm (sometimes abbreviated Col.) He was paid $15 a season to manipulate the scoreboard numbers via a system of pulleys and did so until he joined the U.S. armed forces in 1942. “Wes Westrum (New York Giants catcher who played for Eau Claire in 1941) used to sing to me when he was on the field,” Linderholm recalled. “And Winnipeg manager Joe Mowry would come sit with me between innings. I asked him why he wasn’t in the dugout with his players and he said if they didn’t know how to play by now he couldn’t help them.”14

Eau Claire manager Johnny Mostil welcomed the new field. The former Chicago White Sox outfielder had managed the Eau Claire team since 1933 when they played at Chappell Field on the city’s north side. “This is one of the best parks I’ve ever seen,” Mostil said of the new field, comparing it to the “planks on beer barrels” common at Chappell (sometimes spelled with one l). His disdain for the old field may have been so strong that he held tryouts for the 1937 Bears on the parking lot outside Carson Park as it was being finished. Over 100 hopefuls turned out for the sessions.15

The crowd was even bigger when Carson Park was officially dedicated on June 1. Five thousand fans “were literally hanging from the rafters,” reported the local newspaper—the most fans ever to attend a baseball game in Eau Claire to that date.  At precisely 8 P.M., the switch was thrown and the new lights flooded the field, radiating 48 candlepower each.

The Bears lost this game, too, 8-2, albeit to the Double A club from Minneapolis. The Millers had taken a sweaty bus ride from the Twin Cities, 90 miles away, after defeating the St. Paul Saints in an American Association game.16

Carson Park surely was a factor in the Bears drawing over 40,000 fans during the 1937 season. They finished third in the Northern League standings but lost in the playoffs to Superior.

Fans continued to enjoy Carson Park and support the club through 1942, when the Northern League suspended play during World War II. Competition resumed in 1946 and successful seasons continued, with Eau Claire winning the league’s regular-season title in 1949 and falling just a half-game short the following year. The fans kept coming too, enjoying baseball, bratwurst, beer, and popcorn on those pleasant Wisconsin summer evenings and weekends.

They didn’t know it, but the best was yet to come. On June 12, 1952, an 18-year-old Black ballplayer from Mobile, Alabama, arrived at the Chippewa Valley Airport on a North Central Airlines flight from Milwaukee. Henry Aaron, recently a member of the Negro League Indianapolis Clowns, had signed a $350-a-month contract with the Boston Braves and was assigned to Eau Claire.  Carrying a cardboard suitcase, Aaron was picked up at the airport by Clell “Buzz” Buzzell, sports editor of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, and driven to the local YMCA, where he rented a room.17

Two nights later, starting at shortstop, Aaron smacked a pair of singles, each driving in runs, and exhibited good hands and a strong arm in the field. The arrival of Aaron—one of just three black players on the team along with outfielder Covington and catcher Julie Bowers—sparked the Eau Claire team to 19 wins in its next 23 games and put it in contention in the Northern League.

Overall, Aaron played in 87 games for the Bears and batted .336 with nine home runs and 61 runs batted in. He amazed observers with his side-armed throws and powerful wrists. He was selected for the Northern League all-star game and was the unanimous choice as the league’s rookie of the year. The next year, he played for the Braves’ farm team in Jacksonville, Florida, in the Class A South Atlantic League. Aaron joined the parent club in 1954, the season after the Braves moved to Milwaukee. He broke Babe Ruth’s long-standing record of 714 home runs in 1974 while playing for the Braves in Atlanta and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.18

Even though his time at Eau Claire was brief, Aaron is fondly remembered and honored. In addition to the statue of him in the plaza, his jersey number 6 is depicted on a banner that hangs from the rafters inside the stadium, and people still talk about his single season at Eau Claire. “I have no trouble scheduling teams to come here and play us,” said Mark Faanes, manager of the Post 53 Eau Claire Pizza Hut American Legion team in 2026, noting that young players want to be on the same field where Aaron played so many years before.19

The next year—1953—was a season of highs and lows for the Eau Claire franchise. On June 13, the parent Milwaukee Braves played an exhibition game against the Bears. It was their only appearance in Eau Claire and featured some of the stars on the Milwaukee roster that year—including Eau Claire alum Bill Bruton, shortstop Johnny Logan, third baseman Eddie Mathews, outfielder Jim Pendleton, and first baseman George Crowe. Milwaukee won the game 13-11, in front of 7,000 fans—the most ever to attend a game at Carson Park. In the process, however, they lost reserve catcher Paul Burris for the season with a broken hand.20

Less than three months later, however, doubts arose about the future of the Eau Claire franchise. “Braves Almost Certain to Leave Eau Claire,” warned a headline in the Leader-Telegram on Thursday, August 13. “It appears the Milwaukee Braves will be pulling out of Eau Claire,” wrote columnist Red Wyczewski. “That was the general indication after Joseph Cairnes, executive vice president of the Braves, met with local officials.

“Unless we can send Eau Claire a first division ball club in 1954,” Cairnes said, “we don’t feel it would be right to return here next year. We have no definite assurances we could provide Eau Claire with a winning team.”21 (The team had recorded an unimpressive 49-77 record in 1953.)

Those concerns were apparently addressed by December, as the parent Braves announced that Charlie Root would manage the team in 1954, and Eau Claire would carry on.22 Renamed the Braves, the franchise racked up winning records for the next five seasons, including a record 81 victories in 1955. But attendance wasn’t keeping up. It had fallen from a high of over 103,000 fans in 1949 to fewer than 40,000 in every year since 1957, and just 20,000 attendees—or 300 a game—in 1962.23

The Leader-Telegram‘s issue of Monday, November 5, 1962, carried the baseball obituary. Citing low attendance and financial hardship, Eau Claire announced that it was dropping out of the Northern League and ceasing operations. Milwaukee was not happy with the club’s 1962 results, the paper reported in a lead story written by sports editor Clell Buzzell, the same person who had picked Aaron up at the airport more than 10 years earlier. With gate receipts of just $8,869, lowest in the league except for St. Cloud, the club had lost money. “It just isn’t worth trying to operate for the 300 fans who regularly attend games,” stated R.B. Bezanson, who represented Eau Claire at a meeting of Northern League officials.

The article cited the impact of the Minnesota Twins, who had brought major league ball to the nearby Twin Cities in 1961, the spread of televised games, and the popularity of other sports like golf and boating as possible reasons for Eau Claire’s demise in affiliated minor-league ball.24

But that didn’t mean the end of baseball at Carson Park. Between the city’s four high schools, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the local Babe Ruth and American Legion teams, amateur teams called the Cavaliers and the Bears, and the college-age Northwoods League Eau Claire Express, the field hosts an estimated 200 baseball games a year, sometimes three or four in a single day. Several state high school baseball championships have been played at Carson Park, and the Legion team has played there since 1937.25

The Express, known among fans as “The Train,” started playing in the Northwoods League at Carson Park in 2005.  The team won the league championship in 2010; that year also featured the league’s All-Star game at Carson Park, attended by 4,000 fans. Several former Express players have gone on to major league careers, including Daulton Varsho, Jordan Zimmermann, Griffin Jax and Kole Calhoun.26

Proud of Carson Park—once called the Northern League’s most beautiful field— the teams and city have taken care of it. Typical of this enthusiasm, youthful team business manager Bob Quinn (grandson of longtime baseball man Bob Quinn and son of former Braves general manager John J. Quinn) reported the field was in “tip-top shape, inside and out” for the season opener in 1959. “We’ve been busy for weeks preparing the field, the grandstands, the restrooms, shower rooms and lunch rooms,” he said. “Both clubhouses and shower rooms have been cleaned up and painted, and a much-needed heater has been installed in the Braves’ clubhouse.”27

The 1998 renovation project, headed by Bluske, raised over $500,000 in community donations and city funds. It made the stadium handicapped-accessible, improved the restroom and concession areas under the stands, added more box seats, and replaced the old wooden benches with metal contoured seating.28

Other fund-raising campaigns and city investments have updated the seating areas, added nylon netting to protect fans from foul balls, purchased a mechanized cart for dragging the infield, and further modernized club houses and dugouts. Former city parks director Phil Fieber recalled a 2011 visit to the park by Aaron, then campaigning for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Jim Doyle. “We walked the field together,” said Fieber. “He said it looked a lot better than when he played there.”

A 2026 project added a heated bathroom area, much needed for colder weather games in spring and fall. Fieber pointed out that the original stadium was designed for summer baseball and had no insulation. “It’s a stone building,” he said. “There’s sheet rock that gets damp and takes a long time to dry. It was built to accommodate a single minor league team during a short season, from June through August.”29 New dugouts were also added, much to the delight of the players and teams. “We now have the best dugouts in the Northwoods League,” said Jake Horan, Express general manager. “We can fit all of our players in the dugout now.”30

While the ballpark remains popular as ever as the home field for many teams and the site of many games, the most memorable event in its history may well have been Aaron’s return visit in 1994, when the bronze statue of him was unveiled and he spoke to a crowd estimated at over 5,000.

Aaron arrived on a sunny August 17, 1994, a bit late because of a missed flight from his home in Atlanta. Nonetheless, thousands were waiting for him. Fans held up a welcome card signed by hundreds of Eau Claire residents, kids ran alongside his limousine hoping for autographs, and onlookers climbed trees to get a better view. After unveiling the statue, he spoke at the stadium, challenging his audience to value education over athletic achievement.

“The greatest thing we can show our young people is that we care about them and let them grow up to be someone we can be very proud of…That’s why I care not about the home runs, not the runs batted in, not the slugging percentage—that didn’t mean as much as it does when I see a young person moving up in his education, trying to be somebody.”

He also gave Eau Claire and Carson Park a special pat on the back. Speaking at other events that day, he said, “Eau Claire was a great stepping stone. If people had not accepted me in Eau Claire, my career would have stumbled a bit. I don’t know what would have happened to me in baseball. You made me realize that I had a dream and the only thing I could do was go out and play baseball as hard as I could and my dream would be fulfilled.” 31

Last revised: November 6, 2026

 

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Kurt Blumenau and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Brian Dunn.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Jim Force.

 

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference and Retrosheet for basic information on players, teams, and seasons. The author also thanks Melissa Holmen of the Chippewa Valley Museum for assistance in locating historical documentation.

 

Notes

1 Jerry Poling, A Summer Up North…Henry Aaron and the Legend of Eau Claire Baseball, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002: 16.

2 Sports staff, “The House that Man Built,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, December 22, 1995: 9.

3 Eric J. Wheeler, “Eau Claire’s Field of Dreams,” presentation for the Eau Claire Landmarks Commission, Chippewa Valley Museum holdings, date unknown.

4 “The D. Shaw Lumber Company Makes an Imposing Purchase,” Eau Claire Daily Free Press, August 6, 1889: 4.

5 “Sketch Shows Improvements to Carson Park,” Eau Claire Leader, September 29, 1916: 4.

6 Carson Park page on Visit Eau Claire tourism agency website, accessed October 2026, www.visiteauclaire.com/things-to-do/outdoors/parks/carson.

7 National Register of Historic Places registration Form, Carson Park Baseball Stadium, submitted by Eric J. Wheeler and Joanne Stuttgren, May 6, 2002: 1-3.

8 Interactive map, accessed October 2026, at www.livingnewdeal.org.

9 Michelle Stinnard, “Historic 19th Century Quarry Reopens,” www.stoneworld.com, October 12, 2006.

10 Program, Wisconsin American Legion State Baseball Tournament, August 8-12, 1992: 18.

11 National Register of Historic Places form.

12 Ballpark Brothers review of Carson Park, accessed October 2026, www.ballparkbrothers.com/carson-park.

13 Sports Editor, “Sportographs,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, May 5, 1937: 6.

14 Ron Buckli, “Carson Park Adds Golden Touch,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, May 24, 1987: 14.

15 Buckli.

16 Buckli.

17 Poling: 16.

18 Bill Johnson, “Henry Aaron,” SABR Biography Project, accessed October 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/henry-aaron/.

19 Author’s personal conversation with Mark Faanes, May 2016.

20 “Milwaukee Takes 13-11 Decision Over Eau Claire,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, Tuesday, June 23, 1953: 10.

21 Red Wyczewski, “Braves Almost Certain to Leave Eau Claire,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, August 13, 1953: 18.

22 Red Wyczewski, “Northwest Sportscape,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, Tuesday, December 1, 1953: 12.

23 Clell Buzzell, “City to Lose Pro Baseball after 28 Years,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, November 5, 1962: 13.

24 Buzzell, “City to Lose Pro Baseball after 28 Years.”

25 Program, Wisconsin American Legion State Baseball Tournament.

26 Eau Claire Express page on Northwoods League website, accessed October 2026, https://www.northwoodsleague.com/eau-claire-express.

27 Sports staff, “Many Improvements Ready Carson Park,” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, May 8, 1959:7.

28 Wheeler, “Eau Claire’s Field of Dreams.”

29 Author’s personal conversation with Phil Fieber, May 2026.

30 Author’s personal conversation with Jake Horan, May 2026.

31 Poling: xvi, 148.