They Built It… And They Came - The History of Wade Stadium
By Craig Smith

The excitement began on November 8, 1938 when the voters of Duluth passed an initiative to sell unemployment bonds to help finance a new Duluth All-Sports Municipal Stadium. The movement started months earlier by Citywide All-Sports Chairman Walter Chantigney, who studied the need for a state of the art facility for the hometown Duluth Dukes, which played their games at obsolete Athletic Park, which is now known as the Wheeler Athletic Complex.

“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…,” the report states.
The issue was placed on the November ballot after Chantigney petitioned more than 7500 signatures from the public in favor of the stadium proposal.

The bond paid $75,000 of the project, the State of Minnesota kicked in $7500 in work relief funds, and the rest was paid for by the Federal Works Project Administration. A project designed to put people to work during the Great Depression. A total of $163,232 was the budget for the stadium, but the project went far over budget, almost stopping construction when then Duluth Mayor Edward H. Hatch purchased the necessary materials to keep construction going. It took some time, but the WPA provided additional funding, allowing the stadium to be finished. Total price: $230,880.

In the fall of 1940, Grand Avenue was re-paved, and 381,000 bricks from the street were used to build the stadium. Construction of the stadium was performed mostly by federally hired workers, however some of our local trades were used for specialized work like masonry, electrical, and plumbing.

And so it was on July 16, 1941, after three plus years of planning, construction, and of course politics, the Duluth Dukes would take the field for the first time at the new Duluth All Sports stadium. On this memorable day, fans would cheer, bands would play, and the Sons and Daughters of the American Legion would lead the crowd singing the National Anthem, and citing the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Hatch would accept the stadium on behalf of the city from the WPA and then the first game featured the Dukes playing the rival Superior Blues. The Dukes played through the 1942 season, after which the Northern League shut down due to World War II. The Duluth Dukes started back up in 1946 with the Northern League and baseball was back once again..

In 1954, the Duluth All Sports stadium was renamed Wade Municipal Stadium after Frank Wade who was instrumental in bringing baseball to Duluth during the depression with the Northern League. A year later, in 1955, the Superior Blues ceased operations. In 1956, the Dukes changed their name to the Duluth-Superior White Sox, but by 1959 the team was playing under the Duluth-Superior Dukes name once again. The franchise played on until the end of the 1970 season, when the Northern League disbanded.

Wade Stadium was host once again to professional baseball in 1993 with the revival of the Northern League, this time as an independent league. The Duluth-Superior Dukes lasted through the 2002 season, winning one league championship in that time, but frequent changes in ownership and an overall losing record forced team owners to move the franchise to Kansas City, Kansas.

Beginning in 2003, the Northwoods League, a premier summer collegiate league using players from the major universities and colleges across the country began operations in Duluth and immediately made an impact. The club was the 2004 North Division Champion and played the Madison Mallards for the Northwoods League Championship. The Northwoods League has franchises in Thunder Bay, St. Cloud, Mankato, Rochester, Brainerd, LaCrosse, Waterloo, Wausau, Battle Creek, Green Bay, and Madison as well as Duluth.

Walking into Wade Stadium makes you think about the way Baseball used to be. The old brick yard allows the mind to wander about days gone by when Willie Stargell, Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, and Denny McLain roamed the field. In more recent years, Daryl Strawberry, Jack Morris, and J.D. Drew entertained the Duluth faithful. And today, players like Thomas Diamond, Lance Broadway, Jordan Hafer, and Lauren Gagnier all dream of the day that they make their debut in the “show”.

The history of Wade Stadium continues to add new pages, develop new players, serve the citizens of Duluth as it has for generations. All it needs is the care and attention of it’s city leaders and local business support to insure that Duluth’s baseball legacy will remain for generations to come, so that we never forget our past.