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Crown Heights History: Lefferts Park

This series on The History of Crown Heights has been compiled by Instagram account @historyofcrownheights, run by a born and raised Crown Heightser, and shows some of the ongoing research taking place.

Lefferts Park, formally known as Hamilton Metz Park, was originally known as Commercial Field, or Commercial High School Athletic Field, and has been used as a recreational field for well over a century.

In 1906, NYC deeded the three-quarters of acre lot to be used as a park. It became the home field of Commerical High School and was used by many local high school teams. It also hosted numerous soccer, football, and baseball games for local teams. The park also witnessed regular track and field events, as well as notable cricket matches that garnered coverage in local newspapers. Enclosed by a sturdy board fence, the park featured a football field, two sets of bleachers, a small concrete block building with locker space, and two handball courts.

In 1921, the New York Brickley Giants (formally, the Brooklyn Giants American Professional Football Association) a football team sponsored by the New York Giants baseball team used Commercial Field as their home field as well as Ebbets Field. They played two exhibition games in November of 1921. In 1926, the Brooklyn Horsemen of the first American Football League used the stadium as their home field. It was also used by the Brooklyn Blue Devils.

In 1940, the New York Parks Department acquired the lot and renamed it Hamilton-Metz Field in honor of Congressman and NYC Comptroller Herman A. Metz and Alexander Hamilton, a revered US Founding Father. However, the park is commonly referred to as Lefferts Park by locals.

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6 Comments

    • North

      2022 is north-side-up.

      the other two are north-side-down.

      In 1924, the batters sttod at the corner of ENY & Albany.
      !n 1996 and 2022 they’re near the apartment building closer to Lefferts & Kingston.

    • AH

      I think you mean:

      Thank you for doing all this research and posting these fascinating articles. Can you flip the 2022 picture over so it matches the other ones?

    • History

      That’s correct. 1996 and 2022 needs to flipped, and it will be reposted correctly IYH BEZ, I promise, Bli Neder .

  • Avi

    Great Series. Have you covered all the earth-moving that was needed to flatten the route of EP? I heard that but am uncertain how much other land was leveled. Also the natural springs that feed our Mikvaos.