NUTWOOD PARK

Photo courtesy: Jim Massey

Loemker, Herman J., 1868-1937, “[Nutwood Park at the fairgrounds north of Dubuque, Iowa],” Loras College Digital Collections, accessed September 14, 2016, https://digitalcollections.loras.edu/items/show/308.

Watching the races at Nutwood Park was a popular sport.

NUTWOOD PARK. The home of HORSE RACING in Dubuque, Nutwood Park was named for NUTWOOD, the famous Kentucky trotting stallion owned by Henry L. STOUT. Frank D. STOUT and Henry L. Stout leased the DUBUQUE DRIVING PARK before the 1892 season. (1) To improve the park, they made the track one-mile long and constructed a new grandstand, stables, and a fence around the track. (2)

The contractor was John Patrick WILLIAMS. The decision to construct the course was made easier by the support the project received from other wealthy businessmen who loved racing. Racers wanted the change because it meant fewer curves and an opportunity to establish speed records. (3) The combination race track and fairgrounds was opened to the public in August 1894. Stalls for race horses were rented annually for $1,160.

In 1892 Henry L. STOUT and Frank D. STOUT took over the park from M. J. Mulgrew, James CUSHING, John Babcock, and Philip Ryder. They renamed it Nutwood Park to honor their most famous horse, NUTWOOD.

In 1894 the Nutwood Park Company was established and the track became nationally recognized as part of the Great Western Trotting Circuit. In 1894 more than one hundred horses were raced with the number climbing to 348 in the 1898 races.

Harness racing was the only sport at the track until August 1896. An injunction closing one of Chicago's largest tracks resulted in two hundred thoroughbreds being present at the Dubuque track. Races, scheduled to last one week, turned out to be a financial loss to the backers, however, and were, therefore, the last to be held in Dubuque.

Nutwood Park advertising poster. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Thoughts that the track would continue its success led to the formation of the Dubuque Trotting and Pacing Association by Charles Thomas HANCOCK in 1899. (4) Plans were begun for a fair to run the week of August 28 to September 2 with the largest racing card in the nation. To draw the best horses and riders, Hancock proposed purses totaling $123,000 and a relaxation of the rules on gambling. At a cost of $35,000, the track was widened and a new grandstand constructed. Admission tickets costing one dollar were sold at local hotels, banks, and drug stores. (5) Hancock's efforts also led to the formation of the DUBUQUE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION with the one purpose of promoting a 'monster boxing carnival in Saengerbund auditorium' which had a capacity of 6,000 seats. (6)

Planning expanded to city officials, railroad passenger agents, and streetcar officials. Pinkerton Detective Agency's branch in Chicago was asked for fifty trained detectives to aid the DUBUQUE POLICE DEPARTMENT in apprehending pickpockets, confidence men, and crooked gamblers. Railroad fares were slashed fifty percent for the entire week. Merchants and saloon keepers increased their stocks. (7)

Trains bringing race horses came from New England, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and locations in Iowa. On the opening day, the Great Western Railroad competed with the streetcar company and hack lines carrying people from 8th Street to the park on a ten minute schedule for ten cents. There were seven thousand paid admissions on the first day with estimates of an equal number on the hillsides. On the second day with $20,000 to be distributed to the winners, there were 21,000 admissions. By the end of the week there were more than 40,000 paid admissions. (8) Bride and Fitch, a Detroit pooling firm, opened betting headquarters inside the park. (9)

Merchants were have a hard time keeping up with the demand. One local saloon keeper took the door off his establishment and set it adrift in the MISSISSIPPI RIVER, signaling his intent to remain open all hours. (10) Others signaled their intent to remain open by throwing the keys to their establishments in the river. (11) Roulette wheels appeared. All local hotels were filled; people slept in the parks. (12)

Soon after the 1899 race, the park was offered to the city on the condition that the grounds would be maintained as a park indefinitely. The city refused the contract. The DUBUQUE ELECTRIC COMPANY purchased the land and leased it without charge to the fairgrounds association.

The grounds were also the scene of plays, vaudeville, and band concerts sponsored by the electric company. In 1903 the land was purchased by the UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY after it was announced that the company would spend $25,000 for improvements to the park. The company planned to make the location a resort with racing a primary activity. (13)

Until the Tri-State Fair of 1904 little racing was seen at the Driving Park. The fair rekindled interest, however and the park was improved with an expenditure of $7,800. (14) in 1906 the famous racehorse Dan Patch came to Dubuque to compete for eight thousand dollars in prize money. During the week, Dan Patch set a new track record of 1:58 before an estimated twenty thousand cheering fans. The horse was a featured racer again in 1907.

In 1911 races were scheduled for the week of September 12 to 18th. It began to rain on the 12th, however, and continued for the entire week causing the entire week's races to be cancelled. The financial loss was said to nearly ruin the sponsors.

The NUTWOOD DRIVING CLUB was formally organized in 1912. Plans called for the quick return of Nutwood Park, the last mile track in the state, to the Great Western Trotting Circuit of racing. (15)

Bruce BALDWIN, secretary of the Nutwood Driving Club and manager of the races, was confident that with his personal acquaintance with many people in racing that he could attract many of the fastest horses on the Grand and Great Western circuits to Dubuque. Taking over the entire promotion, he announced that Dubuque would stage a great harness race on September 17-20, 1912. This was during an open week in the schedules of both circuits allowing the fastest trotters and pacers to use the mile track for handsome purses. The program showed: (14)

           Tuesday, September 17th Merchants' and Manufacturers' stake
                    2:24 class trotters, $1,500
                                   Dubuque Industrial Corporation stake
                    2:12 pace $1,500
                                   Trotting Race 2:17 class $700
           Wednesday, September 18th (Dubuque Day)
                    Dubuque Club stake, 2:25 class pacers $1,000
                    Hotel Julien stake, 2:12 trotters $1,000
                    Pacing 2:16 class $700
           Thursday, September 19th
                    Hotel Wales stake, 2:07 pace $1,000
                    Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company state
                          2:15 class trotters $1,500
                    Pacing, 2:10 class, $700
           Friday, September 20
                    Three-year-old class trotting stake $1,500
                    Mile dash, running $100
                    Seven, six and four furlong races purse of
                          $100 for each event

With the certainty of a race and the money established, the DUBUQUE INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION announced that a Made-in-Dubuque exposition would be held during the same week as the races. With Baldwin's prediction that the race would attract 30,000 people and thousands of out-of-town visitors, an athletic association announced a boxing carnival. This was to be held two nights on Stumpf's Island in the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Baldwin used $5,000 to advertise the races in leading turf magazines and had 5,400 names on a mailing list. Repairs and improvements to Nutwood Park cost $3,500. On the day before the race was to be held, 125 horses were housed at park's stables. (15)

Then weather entered the picture. It began raining on Monday and continued raining on Tuesday causing the postponing of the first day's races. The rain continued on Tuesday night making the track impossible to use on Wednesday. Meanwhile the horses continued to eat and staff members continued to draw a salary. More rain fell on Thursday and calls for canceling the entire program began. At this Baldwin proposed the idea of moving the entire schedule to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. During a lull in the rain, the track was put into shape at the cost of $100. It was then that the Dubuque Ministerial Association protested racing on Sunday. Baldwin responded to that with a statement that the track was located outside the city and that thousands of dollars had been invested. Investors needed some support. (16)

The final decision came after rain on Friday. Officials noted that water around the judges' stand was about 6.3 feet deep. All the horses were led out of their stalls and into special railroad cars for transportation out of town. Estimates of the loss exceeded $11,000. Baldwin left town within several days having made no money for the effort he had invested from March 15 through September 20th. (17)

The last big horse race at Nutwood Park occurred in 1915. With this failure, interest in racing died in Dubuque. Convinced that there would be no more races, the electric company dismantled the grandstand and converted the park into a garden for its employees. (18)

The land between the railroad tracks, Sageville Road, and the John Deere road which once drew huge crowds and brightly colored jockeys became the site of Dubuque's first AIRPORT. After the airport was moved, the area was converted to industrial use including the construction of WICKE'S LUMBER AND BUILDING SUPPLY CENTER.

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Source:

1. "Midsummer Meeting," The Herald, May 21, 1892, p. 4

2. Kruse, Len. "Busy Nutwood Park, Melody Mill Now Just Memories," Telegraph Herald, March 17, 1998, p. 12

3. Fedler, Fred. "Dubuque's Nutwood Park Once Nation's Horse Racing Capital," Telegraph Herald, undated, Courtesy of: Diane Harris

4. "Dubuque Was the Capital of All Sportsdome One Week Back in 1899, B.P. When Charlie Hancock Drew The Horses Here," Telegraph-Herald and Times Journal, February 26 1933, p. 7

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-22-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml, p. 200

14. "Bruce Baldwin Cones to Town and the Horses Prick Up Their Ears and Things Begin to Hum at Nutwood Park," Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal, March 6, 1933, p. 9

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.