Loeb Stadium was a

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Columbian Park in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was primarily used for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and had most recently been the home of the Lafayette Aviators of the Prospect League. Previously, it was the home of Ohio Valley Redcoats of the independent

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

, and later the Lafayette Leopards of the now defunct Great Central League.

History

Opened in 1940 as Columbian Park Recreational Center, Loeb Stadium had a capacity of 3,500 people. From 1943 until 1945, the stadium hosted

Spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

for

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

when teams were forced to hold their training closer to their home cities due to restrictions in place as a result of the United States' participation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. At that time, the stadium was home to a Class A affiliate of the Indians. It also hosted the minor league

Lafayette Red Sox Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (175 ...

, a founding franchise of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

in 1956. In 1957, the Red Sox moved to Waterloo, Iowa, and later to Lansing, Michigan, where they are known today as the

Lansing Lugnuts The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Athletics (baseball), Athletics. They are located in Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at Jackson Field (Lansing), Jackson Fie ...

. In amateur baseball, it was home to the Colt League Baseball World Series 48 out of 49 years (1969–1971 and 1973–2017) until the event moved to Rent One Park in

Marion, Illinois The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population in Marion, IL was 16,855 according to the 2020 census. It is part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of early 20th-century coal fields ...

in 2018. The Jefferson High School Bronchos used the stadium for their home games, competing in games sanctioned by the

Indiana High School Athletic Association The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the U.S. state of Indiana. Member schools are classified into four classes based on enrollment, ranging ...

(IHSAA). It hosted the IHSAA baseball state finals four times, lastly in 2005. For the 2016 season, the

Jamestown Jammers The Jamestown Jammers were a minor league baseball team based in Jamestown, New York from 1994 until 2014. The team was the Short-Season A classification affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and played in the New York–Penn League. The team play ...

moved to Lafayette and began play in the Prospect League as the Aviators.

Replacement

At the conclusion of the 2019 Prospect League season, the stadium was closed and demolished to make way for a new

Loeb Stadium Loeb Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Columbian Park in Lafayette, Indiana, United States. It is the home field for the Lafayette Aviators, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Prospect League, and for the Jefferson High School Bronchos b ...

which opened March 31, 2021. The Aviators were supposed to play the 2020 season at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

's Alexander Field; however, their 2020 season was suspended when Purdue closed their athletic facilities due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The project, at a cost of $20 million, saw the stadium's configuration flipped, placing home plate in what had been center field. The original seating area was removed and made part of Columbian Park surrounding the stadium. New suites and outdoor group seating areas were added. The stadium's grass playing surface was replaced with a synthetic turf to allow the facility to host additional types of events, and the seating capacity was decreased from 3,500 to 2,600. Additionally, the playing surface was lowered by seven feet, allowing for improved sightlines from all stadium seats. The project was paid for using economic development income tax (EDIT) rather than property taxes.

References

Buildings and structures in Lafayette, Indiana Baseball venues in Indiana High school baseball venues in the United States 1940 establishments in Indiana 2019 disestablishments in Indiana Sports venues completed in 1940 Sports venues demolished in 2019 Mississippi-Ohio Valley League Defunct Midwest League ballparks Defunct minor league baseball venues Defunct baseball venues in the United States {{Indiana-baseball-venue-stub