Camp Allen Park (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

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Fort Wayne hosted the first professional baseball game, and now, there’s a monument to mark the historic event.

A monument has been placed at the old Kekionga Ball Grounds, which is current day Camp Allen Park along the St. Marys River on the northwest side of downtown Fort Wayne, to mark the location of the first professional baseball league game played between the Fort Wayne Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys on May 4, 1871. Fort Wayne defeated Cleveland 2-0 in the game.

Before its purchase in 1912, Camp Allen Park was a rendezvous point and training ground for Union soldiers during the Civil War. One of those regiments, the Thirtieth, was commanded by Colonel Sion S. Bass, one of Fort Wayne's most famous Civil War heroes. Camp Allen takes its name from Colonel John Allen, an attorney, close associate of famed American statesmen Henry Clay and a distinguished soldier who fought in the Fort Wayne area during the War of 1812.

Camp Allen features a playground with slides, teeter totters, a swing set and a climber in the north section of the park and a basketball court in the south section.

(Source: Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation)