History
During the Great Depression, the U.S. federal government used the WPA to fund projects to boost employment. One of these projects was the removal of the brick roadbed from Grand Avenue, which was then paved with asphalt. During the fall of 1940, road crews removed 381,000 bricks from the surface of Grand Avenue. Another WPA crew used these bricks to build Wade Stadium.
The decision to build Wade Stadium originated with a 1938 study commissioned by Walter Chantigney, chairman of Duluth's Citywide All-Sports committee. The study found that the Duluth Duke's existing stadium, Athletic Park, was obsolete. According to the study:
| “ | Duluth does not have a suitable stadium for professional baseball. The present athletic park, privately owned and used by Duluth’s professional team, has too small a capacity, the seats are unsuitable, the sanitary facilities are seriously inadequate and the playing field is smaller than regulation size. . . . | ” |
Chantigney gathered more than 7,500 signatures to place a construction bond measure on the November, 1938, ballot. After voters approved the bond measure, money was gathered over the next two years from bond sales, the state of Minnesota, and the WPA. The site selected for the new stadium was located directly across Grand Avenue from Athletic Park.
A construction budget totaling $163,232 was set. But, due to cost overruns, the final cost of the stadium was $230,880. During construction, the project received several bailouts. One bailout came from Duluth's newly elected mayor, Edward H. Hatch, who purchased the materials needed to finish construction.
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