Bleecker Stadium 3.3

Bleecker Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Albany, New York. The stadium was once a reservoir for the Albany public water system. Today it has a baseball diamond, football/soccer field, and a softball field used by area high schools, colleges, and youth and adult leagues. Bleecker Stadium hosts several post-season games and series, including the Capital District Pop Warner Super Bowls. The stadium is on Clinton Avenue which is to the south, Ontario Street is to the east, and Second Street is to the north. Swinburne Park borders Bleecker to the west.HistoryBleecker Stadium was built as a Federal public works project; originally the stadium was the Bleecker Reservoir, which was constructed in 1850. As Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt established a jobs relief program that made the conversion of the reservoir, which had become obsolete, possible; and this led to the creation of between 500 and 1,000 jobs. The stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day 1934. The clubhouse was built in 1940 under the Works Progress Administration, also set up by Roosevelt, who by then was President of the United States. Covering 9.5acres, the stadium was the ninth largest in the entire United States and the second largest on the East Coast behind Philadelphia. It was named for Albany businessman James Edward Bleecker, a member of an old Albany family which produced several mayors and other officials.