Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Jersey City to Get WPA Stadium Fund


Jersey City to Get WPA Stadium Fund

Mayor Hague Reports Application for $800,000 Approved for Arena at Airport.

Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City announced yesterday he had been informed that the Works Progress Administration had approved the city's application for an $800,000 grant to build a municipal sports stadium. Since the regulations of the WPA forbid the purchase of the land for any project, the only suitable city owned site is the Jersey City airport at Droyers Point on Newark Bay. Mayor Hague and advisers visited the airport last Saturday and Sunday to inspect the site. According to plans filed by Christian H. Zeigler of Jersey City, an architect, with the application six months ago, the stadium will occupy a plot 500 by 1,000 feet, be a semi circular structure of steel and concrete, seating 22,000 persons. The stadium will be suitable for football, baseball, prize fights, wresting bouts, track meets, hockey games, tennis matches and all outdoor athletics. Dressing rooms will be included. The project will provide employment for 250 men for six months. The Jersey City Airport is now rented at a nominal charge to Eddie Schneider, who gives flying lessons there. Outdoor sports events in Jersey City are held now on Boyle's Thirty Acres, where there is a small grand stand at the high school athletic field and at a small, privately operated arena in the city.

Source: New York Times; September 26, 1935; page 18

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