Thanks to donations from several area pro baseball and football teams, the old Brush stairway at the Polo Grounds site is being spruced up and connected to a local park.
The Brush stairway, donated in 1913 in the name of former New York Giants owner John T. Brush, is the last major remnant of the fourth version of the Polo Grounds, which opened in 1890, burned down in 1911 and fully reopened for the 1912 season. The ballpark was built by Brush, who bought the Giants in 1903. Though the Polo Grounds were known primarily as the home of the Giants, it also housed the New York Yankees from 1913 to 1922 and the New York Mets while Shea Stadium was under construction in 1962 and 1963, as well as the NFL’s New York Giants and the AFL’s New York Jets.
All of these teams — including the San Francisco Giants as well as Major League Baseball — donated a total of $950,000 to renovate the staircase area, which is located at Edgecombe Avenue near 158th Street. When the Polo Grounds were open, the Giants ran a ticket booth on Edgecombe Avenue, allowing fans to stroll down the stairs to the ballpark. The renovation project will clean up the entire area and will be finished next fall.
Image from the George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress): LC-DIG-ggbain-10753
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