Browning Field
| Location | 16th Street and 23rd Avenue in Moline, Illinois, |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41.492081, -90.511776 |
| Owner | City of Moline, Illinois |
| Operator | City of Moline, Illinois |
| Capacity | 5,600 (1948) |
| Field size | (LF-CF-RF) 550-440-377 (1948) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1910 |
| Built | 1910-14 |
| Opened | 1912 |
| Renovated | 1972 |
| Expanded | 1920 |
| Tenants | |
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American Football League Rock Island Independents (1926) Minor League Baseball Moline Plowboys (1920-1948) High School Sports Moline High School (1912-Present) |
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Coordinates: 41°29′31″N 90°30′42″W / 41.492081°N 90.511776°W Browning Park is a park in Moline, Illinois, United States, located at 16th Street and 23rd Avenue. Browning Field has been the home of high school and professional athletic events since 1910. It has hosted athletes such as Babe Ruth and Red Grange.
John T. Browning (1830–1910) was a lawyer who served as the City of Moline's first City Attorney. He was also a two-term State Assemblyman. In his last year of his life, Browning was planning on erecting a memorial to himself on the farmland that he owned when he was convinced by A. M. Beal, President of the Moline Board of Education, to deed the land to the city for use as an athletic park. On July 14, 1910, he added the codicil to his will, stating that his land were to be "held in trust forever by the City of Moline and dedicated to the public as and for a playground and athletic park, which shall be known and designated as the John T. Browning Park, Playground, and Athletic Field".
The land is deeded to the city of Moline for use as a "playground and athletic park". While the sports teams of Moline High School have been the primary tenants of the field (and the adjoining Wharton Field House), the Rock Island Independents, the only professional American football team to be charter members of two major leagues, called Browning Park its home in the 1920s, as did the minor league baseball Moline Plowboys.
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