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70-649: Children and organized amateur teams had played baseball since at least 1880 in the area east of the Valley Cemetery , which was known as "the Plains." A ballpark called the Beech Street Grounds was built on the site of Gill Stadium at the corner of Beech and Valley Streets, on land owned by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company . The park had a wooden fence and two wooden grandstands. Its main entrance

140-426: A city of 65,000, included among its workforce a large number of immigrants. In the minds of Amoskeag managers, the most troublesome of this group were the most recent arrivals from Greece . Recent immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were being blamed for the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts , which resulted in much violence and the involvement of the radical Industrial Workers of

210-517: A day early on April 25, 1866, gathered together at Friendship Cemetery to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is held by some writers as the inspiration of the original Memorial Day. According to

280-637: A division of the Department of Veterans Affairs , and scholars attribute the beginning of a Memorial Day practice in the South to a group of women of Columbus, Georgia . The women were the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus. They were represented by Mary Ann Williams (Mrs. Charles J. Williams) who as association secretary wrote an open letter to the press on March 11, 1866 asking for assistance in establishing an annual holiday to decorate

350-484: A footnote to a story about her brother, Mrs. Sophie (Keller) Hall described how she and Emma Hunter decorated the grave of Emma's father, Reuben Hunter, and then the graves of all soldiers in the cemetery. The original story did not account for Reuben Hunter's death occurring two months later on September 19, 1864. It also did not mention Mrs. Elizabeth Myers as one of the original participants. A bronze statue of all three women gazing upon Reuben Hunter's grave now stands near

420-599: A garden cemetery had long since been forgotten by most. In 2002, the interest of Education Continuum at Southern New Hampshire University spurred the creation of Friends of the Valley Cemetery , a non-profit community organization dedicated to raising funds for the cemetery and overseeing its restoration. The group has partnered with city officials to coordinate maintenance efforts and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for future restoration. A master plan has been written that will guide future restoration of

490-401: A key role in using Memorial Day rituals to preserve Confederate culture. Various dates ranging from April 25 to mid-June were adopted in different Southern states. Across the South, associations were founded, many by women, to establish and care for permanent cemeteries for the Confederate dead, organize commemorative ceremonies, and sponsor appropriate monuments as a permanent way of remembering

560-529: A parade of 10,000 people to honor 257 dead Union soldiers. The soldiers had been buried in a mass grave at the Washington Race Course, having died at the Confederate prison camp located there. After the city fell, the freed Black population unearthed and properly buried the soldiers, placing flowers at their graves. The event was reported contemporaneously in the Charleston Daily Courier and

630-603: A sacred charge upon a Nation's gratitude—the soldiers' and sailors' widow and orphan. — John A. Logan , May 5, 1868 On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide; he was commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of and for Union Civil War veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois . With his proclamation, Logan adopted

700-455: A sacred event. With the Civil War, a new theme of death, sacrifice, and rebirth enters the civil religion. Memorial Day gave ritual expression to these themes, integrating the local community into a sense of nationalism. The American civil religion, in contrast to that of France, was never anticlerical or militantly secular; in contrast to Britain, it was not tied to a specific denomination, such as

770-525: Is one of the federal holidays in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces . It is observed on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of summer in the United States. It is a day for visiting cemeteries and memorials to mourn the military personnel who died in

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840-468: The New-York Tribune . Historian David Blight has called this commemoration the first Memorial Day. However, no direct link has been established between this event and General John Logan 's 1868 proclamation for a national holiday. . . . [W]e can keep alive the memory of debt we owe them by dedicating at least one day in the year, by embellishing their humble graves with flowers, therefore we beg

910-773: The Amoskeag Bulletin — considered it "fireproof", like those being built in major-league cities between 1909 and 1915. Textile Field was one of the first concrete-and-steel stadiums in the United States, the first not in a major city. Only Harvard Stadium in Allston , Massachusetts (1903), Rickwood Field in Birmingham , Alabama (1910), and Fenway Park in Boston , Massachusetts (1912) are older surviving examples. The construction appears to have been part of Amoskeag's benevolence programs. Amoskeag, which employed about 17,000 people in

980-492: The Church of England . The Americans borrowed from different religious traditions so that the average American saw no conflict between the two, and deep levels of personal motivation were aligned with attaining national goals. Since 1867, Brooklyn, New York, has held an annual Memorial Day parade which it claims to be the nation's oldest. Grafton, West Virginia , and Ironton, Ohio have also had an ongoing parade since 1868. However,

1050-637: The Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War . This national observance followed many local observances which were inaugurated between the end of the Civil War and Logan's declaration. Many cities and people have claimed to be the first to observe it. However, the National Cemetery Administration , a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs , credits Mary Ann Williams with originating

1120-514: The Uniform Monday Holiday Act , which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. In 1913, an Indiana veteran complained that younger people born since

1190-526: The United States Library of Congress , "Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War’s end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day." The earliest Southern Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the dead and tend to local cemeteries. In following years,

1260-542: The half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol . Scholars, following the lead of sociologist Robert Bellah , often make the argument that the United States has a secular " civil religion "—one with no association with any religious denomination or viewpoint—that has incorporated Memorial Day as

1330-499: The "baptism of blood" on the battlefield. In the national capital in 1913 the four-day "Blue-Gray Reunion" featured parades, re-enactments, and speeches from a host of dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson , the first Southerner elected to the White House since the War. James Heflin of Alabama gave the main address. Heflin was a noted orator; his choice as Memorial Day speaker

1400-443: The "idea of strewing the graves of Civil War soldiers—Union and Confederate" with flowers. Official recognition as a holiday spread among the states, beginning with New York in 1873. By 1890, every Union state had adopted it. The world wars turned it into a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as "Memorial Day" and changed its observance to

1470-693: The 1890s, control of Varick Park passed from Varick to William Freeman. The park was again home to several minor-league baseball teams in the New England League called the Manchester Amoskeags in 1891, the Manchesters in 1899, and the Manchester Textiles in 1906. In June 1912, Amoskeag officials began negotiations with Freeman to take control of the park for use by the city manufacturers' baseball league. In December 1912, Amoskeag announced that

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1540-680: The Confederate dead. The most important of these was the United Daughters of the Confederacy , which grew throughout the South. Changes in the ceremony's hymns and speeches reflect an evolution of the ritual into a symbol of cultural renewal and conservatism in the South. By 1913, David Blight argues, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Confederate. By the 20th century, various Union memorial traditions, celebrated on different days, merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who fought and died while in

1610-477: The English Gothic style was completed in 1932, replacing a wooden chapel that stood at the same site. The new building was designed by Manchester architect Chase R. Whitcher . The stone structure is now in bad repair and has been closed for many years. There are 13 private mausoleums in the cemetery. By the end of the 20th century, the cemetery was recognized by many to be in serious decline, and its heritage as

1680-657: The Fisher Cats made their scheduled move there. Over the years, Gill Stadium has served as the home field for city high-school and American Legion ball clubs. The stadium hosted the American Legion World Series on five occasions. Gill Stadium continues to host numerous amateur baseball teams, and Manchester's annual Thanksgiving football tournament, the Turkey Bowl, which pits two of the four city schools against each other each year based on their performance during

1750-545: The Ladies' Memorial Association and other groups increasingly focused rituals on preserving Confederate culture and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy narrative. The 1863 cemetery dedication at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania , included a ceremony of commemoration at the graves of dead soldiers. Some have therefore claimed that President Abraham Lincoln was the founder of Memorial Day. However, Chicago journalist Lloyd Lewis tried to make

1820-584: The McElwain Shoe Company and other industries in Manchester, organized the city Manufacturers' League in 1912. The league played at three locations in Manchester, of which Varick Park was the most important. Its reconstruction in 1913 as Textile Field made the league seem more professional. Textile Field made its debut over Memorial Day weekend of 1913, but the grandstand was not entirely completed until late July. The dedication game came on September 8, when

1890-802: The Memorial Day parade in Rochester, Wisconsin , predates both the Doylestown and the Grafton parades by one year (1867). In 1915, following the Second Battle of Ypres , Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae , a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force , wrote the poem " In Flanders Fields ". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders . Inspired by

1960-486: The Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states two years earlier. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday. In 1868, memorial events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states, and 336 in 1869. One author claims that the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. Logan's wife noted that the date was chosen because it was the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom in

2030-770: The National League's Brooklyn Robins (now known as the Los Angeles Dodgers ) to play against the company team. Textile Field was purchased by the City of Manchester in 1927 and, in a name-the-field contest conducted by the Manchester Union-Leader , renamed Athletic Field . Athletic Field hosted three professional teams of the New England League: The Manchester Blue Sox played there from 1926–1930, winning championships in 1926 and 1929, but

2100-582: The North. In 1873, New York made Decoration Day an official state holiday and by 1890, every northern state had followed suit. There was no standard program for the ceremonies, but they were typically sponsored by the Women's Relief Corps , the women's auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) , which had 100,000 members. By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been reinterred in 73 national cemeteries, located near major battlefields and thus mainly in

2170-582: The South. In some cities, mostly in Virginia, other dates in May and June were observed. General John Logan commented on the observances in a speech to veterans on July 4, 1866, in Salem, Illinois . After General Logan's General Order No. 11 to the Grand Army of the Republic to observe May 30, 1868, the earlier version of the holiday began to be referred to as Confederate Memorial Day . Following Mary William's call for assistance, four women of Columbus, Mississippi

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2240-500: The South. The most famous are Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania and Arlington National Cemetery , near Washington, D.C. On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson designated an "official" birthplace of the holiday by signing the presidential proclamation naming Waterloo, New York , as the holder of the title. This action followed House Concurrent Resolution 587, in which the 89th Congress had officially recognized that

2310-409: The U.S. military service. Indiana from the 1860s to the 1920s saw numerous debates on how to expand the celebration. It was a favorite lobbying activity of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). An 1884 GAR handbook explained that Memorial Day was "the day of all days in the G.A.R. Calendar" in terms of mobilizing public support for pensions. It advised family members to "exercise great care" in keeping

2380-456: The Upland South argues for the age of the tradition, which was carried westward (and eastward to Africa) by nineteenth-century migration and has survived in essentially the same form till the present." While these customs may have inspired in part rituals to honor military dead like Memorial Day, numerous differences exist between Decoration Day customs and Memorial Day, including that the date

2450-555: The World union. Amoskeag, which was not unionized, wanted no such trouble, particularly in light of the fact that IWW operatives were seen in Manchester during the Lawrence strike. The company hoped to find a way to "Americanize" its workforce, thereby giving workers a stronger connection to the company and to the United States, and to find diversionary activities, like baseball, to keep them from unionizing in their free time. Amoskeag, along with

2520-821: The World Champion Boston Red Sox — playing its major-league lineup for nearly the entire game — defeated the Manufacturers' League All-Stars, 3-1. A year later, the World Champion Philadelphia Athletics defeated the All-Stars, 7-1. The score and the "vaudeville" act put on by the Athletics in the final inning — in which they changed positions and performed "trick" plays — made Amoskeag reconsider its commitment. Increased on- and off-field problems with players, who were hired ostensibly to work for

2590-599: The Yankees, played there. Additionally, the Eastern League's Nashua Angels played a game at Gill Stadium in 1983. The stadium was renovated extensively in preparation for the inaugural 2004 baseball season of the Eastern League's New Hampshire Fisher Cats (the class AA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays ), acquiring an aluminum floor and molded plastic chairs, new clubhouses adjacent to the grandstand, and dugouts in what

2660-742: The assistance of the press and the ladies throughout the South to help us in the effort to set apart a certain day to be observed, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and be handed down through time as a religious custom of the country, to wreathe the graves of our martyred dead with flowers. . . Let the soldiers’ graves, for that day at least, be the Southern Mecca , to whose shrine her sorrowing women, like pilgrims, may annually bring their grateful hearts and floral offerings. . . — Mary Ann Williams , March 11, 1866 The National Cemetery Administration ,

2730-428: The big race to continue, so Governor Warren McCray vetoed the bill and the race went on. Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the unofficial beginning of summer. ( Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer.) The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) advocated returning to the original date. The VFW stated in 2002: Changing

2800-527: The case that it was Lincoln's funeral that spurred the soldiers' grave decorating that followed. On July 4, 1864, ladies decorated soldiers' graves according to local historians in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania . Boalsburg promotes itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day. However, no published reference to this event has been found earlier than the printing of the History of the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1904. In

2870-413: The cemetery. The Currier Gate was restored in 2004. Since 2003, Friends of the Valley Cemetery has hosted an annual strawberry festival in the cemetery, emphasizing its previous heritage as a "garden cemetery" that exists to be enjoyed by residents. Many of the city's leaders have been buried at Valley Cemetery, including: Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day )

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2940-475: The city for the purpose of creating a public burial ground. In 1841, the city created the Valley Street Cemetery. It was designed as a " garden cemetery ", meant to be a place where the public could stroll along its walkways, carriage paths and bridges. In this Victorian Era , "garden cemeteries", in which not only the dead resided, but the living communed with each other and with nature, were popular. By

3010-520: The claims relate to documented events, occurring before or after the Civil War. Others may stem from general traditions of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, rather than specific events leading to the national proclamation. Soldiers' graves were decorated in the U.S. before and during the American Civil War . Other claims may be less respectable, appearing to some researchers as taking credit without evidence, while erasing better-evidenced events or connections. On June 3, 1861, Warrenton, Virginia

3080-481: The date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day. In 2000, Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act, asking people to stop and remember at 3:00 pm. On Memorial Day, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to

3150-645: The entrance to the Boalsburg Cemetery. Although July 4, 1864, was a Monday, the town now claims that the original decoration was on one of the Sundays in October 1864. ... Let us then gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of Springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as

3220-591: The field had been renamed Textile Field and that it would be reoriented and completely rebuilt as a modern, brick-and-concrete baseball facility. The current grandstand was built in 1913 at a cost of more than $ 30,000. It was designed by Amoskeag engineers using brick in the style and color of the mills in Amoskeag's millyard, and built by the Amoskeag Textile Club, which was funded by Amoskeag and whose members were Amoskeag employees. A single, covered grandstand

3290-590: The graves of Confederate and Union soldiers according to her account. The first reference to this event however did not appear until many years later. Mention of the observance is inscribed on the southeast panel of the Confederate Monument in Jackson, erected in 1891. Vaughan's account is contradicted by contemporary sources. On May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina , the recently freed Black population held

3360-637: The graves of soldiers throughout the South. The letter was reprinted in several southern states and the plans were noted in newspapers in the North . The date of April 26 was chosen, which corresponded with the end date of the war with the surrender agreement between Generals Johnston and Sherman in 1865. The holiday was observed in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and elsewhere in Georgia as well as Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi, and across

3430-539: The just-completed season. On-site parking comprises 300 spaces, accessible from Beech Street. Additional parking may be available just north at the adjacent John F. Kennedy Memorial Coliseum , or on side streets. Valley Cemetery The Valley Cemetery (or the Valley Street Cemetery ) is a public cemetery located in Manchester, New Hampshire , United States. It is bounded on the east by Pine Street, on

3500-481: The label "Confederate" to their commemorations and claimed that Northerners had appropriated the holiday. The first official celebration of Confederate Memorial Day as a public holiday occurred in 1874, following a proclamation by the Georgia legislature. By 1916, ten states celebrated it, on June 3, the birthday of CSA President Jefferson Davis . Other states chose late April dates, or May 10, commemorating Davis' capture. The Ladies' Memorial Association played

3570-517: The last Monday in May. Two other days celebrate those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military: Armed Forces Day , which is earlier in May, an unofficial U.S. holiday for honoring those currently serving in the armed forces, and Veterans Day on November 11, which honors all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. A variety of cities and people have claimed origination of Memorial Day. In some such cases,

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3640-564: The late 1850s, the cemetery was nearly filled, and the much larger Pine Grove Cemetery was created. That cemetery lies to the west of Calef Road and to the east of the Merrimack River . A receiving tomb was built at Valley Cemetery in 1888, used to store the deceased during winter when the ground was frozen. In 1907, Mrs. Hannah Currier donated gates at Auburn and Chestnut Streets in honor of her late husband, Moody Currier , who had served as governor of New Hampshire (1885–1887). A chapel in

3710-570: The leadership of women during the war, an increasingly formal practice of decorating graves had taken shape. In 1865, the federal government also began creating the United States National Cemetery System for the Union war dead. By the 1880s, ceremonies were becoming more consistent across geography as the GAR provided handbooks that presented specific procedures, poems, and Bible verses for local post commanders to utilize in planning

3780-482: The league folded in mid-1930. The Manchester Giants, affiliated with the New York Giants , made the post-season in 1946 and 1947; and the Manchester Yankees , affiliated with the New York Yankees , played there in 1948 but disbanded on July 19, 1949 for financial reasons. In 1967, the stadium was renamed Gill Stadium , after former Parks and Recreation Director Ignace J. Gill, who served from 1935 to 1967. In 1971 and 1972, an Eastern League (class A) team, also called

3850-450: The line of duty. Volunteers will place American flags on the graves of those military personnel in national cemeteries . Others such as family and friends will also come to lay flowers and grieve on the graves of those who died in the US military. The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868. Then known as Decoration Day and observed on May 30, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of

3920-455: The local event. Historian Stuart McConnell reports: on the day itself, the post assembled and marched to the local cemetery to decorate the graves of the fallen, an enterprise meticulously organized months in advance to assure that none were missed. Finally came a simple and subdued graveyard service involving prayers, short patriotic speeches, and music ... and at the end perhaps a rifle salute. In 1868, some Southern public figures began adding

3990-410: The military dead. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions pre-date the United States Memorial Day holiday. According to scholars Alan and Karen Jabbour, "the geographic spread ... from the Smokies to northeastern Texas and Liberia, offer strong evidence that the southern Decoration Day originated well back in the nineteenth century. The presence of the same cultural tradition throughout

4060-420: The north by Auburn Street, on the west by Willow Street, and on the south by Valley Street, from which it derives its name. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2004, and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2003. The cemetery came into existence in 1840, when the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company donated 20 acres (81,000 m ) of land in downtown Manchester to

4130-456: The park, moved the two grandstands and designated one as men-only, constructed a 40-foot-wide, quarter-mile dirt bicycle and running track, and renamed the complex Varick Park . The baseball diamond was reoriented so that home plate was along the west (Beech Street) side of the field and the entrance was off Valley Street. As well as baseball, the park hosted track-and-field events, football and soccer games, and outdoor events for Amoskeag. During

4200-434: The patriotic tradition of observing Memorial Day had begun one hundred years prior in Waterloo, New York. The legitimacy of this claim has been called into question by several scholars. In April 1865, following Lincoln's assassination , commemorations were extensive. The more than 600,000 soldiers of both sides who fought and died in the Civil War meant that burial and memorialization took on new cultural significance. Under

4270-538: The poem, YWCA worker Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference three years later wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. The National American Legion adopted in 1920 the poppy as its official symbol of remembrance. Decoration Days in Southern Appalachia and Liberia are a tradition which arose by the 19th century. Decoration practices are localized and unique to individual families, cemeteries, and communities, but common elements that unify

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4340-463: The textile company but in reality were employed for their baseball skills, also led the Textile Club to withdraw its support for the Manufacturers League. A team from the New England League moved from Fitchburg, Massachusetts to Textile Field in July 1914 as the Manchester Textiles. It played there in 1915 as well. Thereafter, Textile Field became the sole domain of the city's manufacturers and schools until 1926. In September 1923, Amoskeag brought in

4410-408: The various Decoration Day practices are thought to represent syncretism of predominantly Christian cultures in 19th century Southern Appalachia with pre-Christian influences from Scotland, Ireland, and African cultures. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions are thought to have more in common with one another than with United States Memorial Day traditions which are focused on honoring

4480-554: The veterans sober. Memorial Day speeches became an occasion for veterans, politicians, and ministers to commemorate the Civil War and, at first, to rehash the "atrocities" of the enemy. They mixed religion and celebratory nationalism, allowing Americans to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation. People of all religious beliefs joined, made that German and Irish soldiers – ethnic minorities that Anti-Irish sentiment#19th century faced Anti-German sentiment#United States  – had become true Americans in

4550-444: The war had a "tendency ... to forget the purpose of Memorial Day and make it a day for games, races, and revelry, instead of a day of memory and tears". In 1911 the scheduling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway car race, later named the Indianapolis 500 , was vehemently opposed by the increasingly elderly GAR. The state legislature in 1923 rejected holding the race on the holiday. But the new American Legion and local officials wanted

4620-403: Was built, gently curved to provide for watching either baseball or football. For safety, concrete ramps were constructed along the sides and rear of the grandstand. Steel trusses and posts supported the roof. Although portions of the roof, floor, and some of the posts supporting the seating platform were of wood, publications from the period of construction — including Amoskeag's employee newspaper,

4690-420: Was criticized, as he was opposed for his support of segregation; however, his speech was moderate in tone and stressed national unity and goodwill, gaining him praise from newspapers. The name "Memorial Day", which was first attested in 1882, gradually became more common than "Decoration Day" after World War II but was not declared the official name by federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, Congress passed

4760-407: Was formerly the dirt track. An elevator provided handicapped access to the rooftop press box. The grass surface was replaced with FieldTurf and the ticket booth and lavatories were renovated. The Fisher Cats brought the 2004 Eastern League title home to Gill. In 2005, a new municipal baseball stadium — now known as Delta Dental Stadium — was completed along the Merrimack River near downtown, and

4830-433: Was located on Beech Street. This was near third base, and home plate was in the field's southwest corner. The other two surrounding streets were Maple to the east and Green to the north. Baseball was played there between 1891 and 1894. In its first two years, the park was home to a minor-league baseball team, the Manchester Amoskeags of the New England League . In 1894, local businessman Thomas Varick purchased an interest in

4900-424: Was the location of the first Civil War soldier's grave to be decorated, according to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1906. This decoration was for the funeral of the first soldier killed during the Civil War, John Quincy Marr , who died on June 1, 1861, during a skirmish at the Battle of Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia. On April 26, 1865, in Jackson, Mississippi , Sue Landon Vaughan decorated

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