Pelicaan Stadium Site, New Orleans, La.

Pelican Stadium

Historic plaque for Pelican Stadium just off Tulane Avenue.

This unrelated field was built to serve the community, seven blocks away.

Quick Facts:

Location: Tulane Avenue (US 61) at Carrollton Street, New Orleans, La. (map it using Google Maps)
Opened: 1915 as Heinemann Park
Demolished: 1957
Home teams: New Orleans Pelicans, Southern Association (1915-57); New Orleans Stars, Negro American League (1941)

Pelican Stadium, originally named for general manager Julius Heinemann, was built in 1915 to replace an older ballpark four blocks away on Carrollton Street. The spacious ballpark (distances of over 400 feet to all fields) was doomed for several reasons, including, reportedly, a lingering ban on black players that alienated a large part of the club’s potential fan base. The team lasted two more years at a football stadium before moving out of town following the 1959 season. A Burger King restaurant and a self-storage facility now occupy the site, which is also hard by Interstate 10.

In 1965, a ballpark was built seven blocks away at the corner of Olive and Joliet streets to accommodate local baseball leagues. It was named for Larry Gilbert, a New Orleans native who played in the big leagues and went on to manage the Pelicans for sixteen seasons in the 1920s and ’30s. The entrance to that field, which was further renovated in 2005, is shown above.

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