Century-old Ti — Ballfield on Fort grounds

This is the latest in a series of posts about news reported a century ago in the Ticonderoga Sentinel.

The visiting Saint Mary’s Academy of Glens Falls baseball team defeated Ticonderoga High School 10–2 on May 21.

“The Ticonderoga boys seemed to be away off form, being weak with the stick and wobbly in the field, and was far from the same team that trimmed St. Mary’s 1 to0 a few weeks ago,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on May 26, 1921.

There was a logical explanation for the lethargy.

The Ticonderoga players had spent much of the previous day in voluntary hard labor, building a new home field for the team near the Fort Ticonderoga gatehouse.

“Determined to have something nearer like a ballfield than the Weedville School grounds, a big bunch of school boys got busy last Friday in the field next to the Gatehouse entrance to the Old Fort grounds,” the Sentinel reported. “Working diligently with roller and scraper, the next day found that they had a fairly good diamond and in the afternoon they played their first game there.”

The Sentinel editorialized that it demonstrated the wisdom of a “quiet, but considerable” push to improve recreational facilities in the town.

“The need for a general playground for the boys and girls is being realized by our people. In fact, a place where children play and exercise is looked upon by educators as having a very valuable and important place in school work.”

In other May 26, 1921 Ticonderoga Sentinel news:

F. B. Barnard sold his general store at Crown Point to H. Kimball of Bellows Falls, the father-in-law of Thomas Clark, who operated a meat market in Crown Point.

State officials had tested about 10,000 of 18,000 head of cattle in Essex County for tuberculosis, of which less than 5 percent tested positive and had to be killed, a relatively low rate compared to other parts of the state.

It was expected that officials would declare the the county’s livestock “tuberculosis free” by July 1.

“The people of Essex County are fortunate in being able to command this advertising. It will eventually prove a great boon to the stock breeders, it will interest people seeking health, and it will be a great advertisement for business of every kind in the county.”

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.