NUTWOOD PARK

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Photo courtesy: Jim Massey

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. The facility was built by Frank D. STOUT and Henry L. Stout in 1891. The contractor was John Patrick WILLIAMS. Up to that time, Dubuque suffered from bad publicity because it did not have a race track. The decision to construct the course was made easier by the support the project received from other wealthy businessmen who loved racing. 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 1894 the Nutwood Park Company was established and the track became nationally recognized as part of the Great Western Racing Circuit. The quarter mile track was later lengthened to one mile in hopes of establishing speed records. 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 in 1899. 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, Charles Thomas HANCOCK proposed purses totaling $123,000 and a relaxation of the rules on gambling. The track was widened and a new grandstand constructed. Admission tickets costing one dollar were sold at local hotels, banks, and drug stores.

Huge crowds filled Nutwood Park on opening day, "Dubuque Day." Excursion trains brought business from across the nation. 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. Roulette wheels appeared. All local hotels were filled. People were seen sleeping in the parks. An estimated eight thousand people rode one of the two streetcar lines from the city to the races. Some of the finest horses in the nation raced to the delight of the packed stadium. Twenty thousand people were present the best day and 10,000 on another day.

On the second day the Herald claimed twenty thousand visitors came to watch twelve horses compete for the $20,000 Futurity. The winner was Idolita, a horse owned by Frank H. Jones of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Jones won $9,000 for first prize. The remaining prize money was divided among the other finishers and the estate of Leland Stanford of Palo Alto, California, who bred the winning horse. Boxing contests held at the same time featured Joe Choynski, Clarence Forbes, Tommy Ryan, Jack Moffatt. (1)

Overflow crowds, however, dwindled rapidly and the last races on Saturday were held before an empty grandstand. 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.

In May 1902, arrangements were made between the owners of the track and the UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY to use the grounds during the summer between races as a resort. 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 Dubuque 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.

Until the Tri-State Fair of 1904 little racing was seen at Nutwood Park. The fair rekindled interest, however, and 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.

Fair attendance in 1909 was cut drastically by heavy rains. Most of the horses racing were local favorites, and a crowd estimated at only fifteen thousand attended the fair.

In 1912 every effort was made to stage a grand fair. Two hundred pacers and trotters were scheduled to race, and thousands of dollars were spent in preparations. Again rain fell and turned the track into a muddy quagmire. The financial loss was said to nearly ruin the sponsors. With this failure, interest in racing died in Dubuque.

The land between the railroad tracks, Sageville Road, and the John Deere road which once drew huge crowds and brightly colored jockeys was later the site of Dubuque's first AIRPORT. After the airport was moved, the area was converted to industrial use.

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Source:

1. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County. 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

"Remember Nutwood Park Races in the 1890s Here?" Telegraph Herald, Sept. 26, 1937, p. 5