Sportsman's Update

[Just Saying]

The grounds of the former Sportsman's Park is going to be a new 190,000 sq/ft Super Wal-Mart. Dang I miss that place. It has also been yet another very expensive boondoggle for the taxpayers of Illinois.

Oh, the thrill of being in that golden winners circle will always be among my best memories.

[LVGaryD]

That is just plain un-Christian, making an historical site into a Walmart. 

[careless hal]

He main signage in the store will be en Espanol.

[beans and weenies]

He main signage in the store will be en Espanol.

 

[Wilderness]

Look on the bright side?
If they ever get slots at Hawthorne, they'll have plenty of penny players close by

[Just Saying]

Look on the bright side?
If they ever get slots at Hawthorne, they'll have plenty of penny players close by

Just for those unfamiliar with the layout: The only thing between Hawthorne & Sportsman's was a single strand of chainlink fence. They would swap back and forth between Harness & T-breds. I loved racing at both venues.

[Wilderness]

Just,
        Somebody told me a while back that old Drive-in theater a few blocks south on Cicero Blvd had been converted to a land-fill.

 I recall seeing massive land-fills along I-55 and the further west you went out of town.

 Portions of the area around Maywood should be considered for land-fill as well

Hoping I'll get back to Chitown someday as I want to visit that museum that has the two lions from the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness".

 Also wish to visit the very old track near Maywood that used to have a statue of Cleopatra in the infield lake.

Don

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Don't think the URL works anymore, may be accessible via archive.org.

Harlem track, Chicago

After the Chicago Interstate Exposition, Lewis put "Cleopatra" in storage and returned to Rome. Sometime later, the sculpture was sold to the owner of the Harlem Race Track in the suburb of Forest Park,  west of Chicago, and placed at the track as a memorial to a racehorse named Cleopatra. It remained in place for nearly 100 years as the property became the site of a golf course and later a munitions factory.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050210102353/http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/lewis/fate2.html

end quote

John Tinsley described this area vividly to me as he had explored in the 1960's. RIP John.

[pezz97]

SO Sad. I practically grew up there!!

[careless hal]

SO Sad. I practically grew up there!!

Were you that little brat that dumped his frozen custard on me?


 

[pezz97]

Were you that little brat that dumped his frozen custard on me?


 

Maybe.......

[Just Saying]

Were you that little brat that dumped his frozen custard on me?


 

Sounds like the Pezz I know.

I never knew there was a Harlem Race Course. I always learn something from Wilderness... thanks Don.

[LVGaryD]

Maybe.......

[Wilderness]

I never knew there was a Harlem Race Course. I always learn something from Wilderness... thanks Don.

Just,
        There were a few others.
John Tinsley told me there was was a former track (although I've never been able to locate any documentation to the east of the North-South street near the former Washington Park-Homewood.

 There was also a former track in the Expo section of the very large Stockyards.

 There were 3-4 very early tracks North of the loop. Two were west of I-94 and one was closer to the lake. (I've some sparse info on these locations).

 As the city limits began to expand in the early days some of these area were simply gobble up in annexation. Thus when you read all very old materials, caution is necessary around the large metropolitan areas. What may have been considered country and another area in the 1890's could have been a few minutes up the X-way in 1990's.

[Just Saying]

Aurora Downs & Washington Park were racing in my younger years, but I was never at either one. I started racing in Chitown around 1985. My brother raced alot, and raced in a real short harness 'test meet' at Arlington. The handle must have been less than expected 'cause they dropped harness. (of course it could just be IL politics... like refusing to allow Hawthorne to have harness dates even though they want them)

Do you have any names for the "Ghost tracks"? I also never know there was ever one at The Stockyards.

[KEVS]

Loved that track. I was there the night of my high school graduation,
had $20.00 to win on Stan Banks and Acquittal, he broke stride in the first turn, caught and won the race at 2-1.  I thought that night I might  become a professional gambler. I am currently on a 33 year losing streak.