NORTH SHORE POLO FIELDS

North Shore Polo Fields (also known as North Shore Polo Club Speedway or North Shore Speedway)

Years of operation:  1923 – 1925

Location: Peterson and Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Ill. (43 acres bounded by Lincoln, Peterson and California avenues)  Today, Mather High School and Mather Park occupy some of the acreage.

Notes:  The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported on June 20, 1923 that the facility was being remodeled for automobile racing with the first race program scheduled for July 4th on the half-mile dirt track; racing held under the guidance of the North Shore Speedway Association and the United Race Drivers Association; driver George Beck was the track manager (promoter?); In 1924, Oliver G. Temme, president of the United Race Drivers Association, commented about the races, “Dirt track racing has leaped into its own in Chicago this year at a single bound.  Never before in the history of the sport in this or any other city has such wide-spread interest been shown in the pilots of the dirt speedway.  I attribute this primarily to the fact that no effort or expense has been spared to attract stars from all over the country to compete in these meetings.”; Chicago’s Cliff Woodbury was a big winner at the speedway during its operation; another Chicago speedster Leslie “Bugs” Allen won 30-lap season-opening event on May 10, 1925; Woodbury winner of 30-lap main event on June 14, 1925 – possibly the final racing program held at the facility. On November 2, 1924, the Chicago Tribune reported that the property had been sold with the buyers intending to improve the tract with sewers, water, gas, electricity and pavements with about fifty two and three flat buildings to be erected.  It was also reported that the polo club’s lease was to June, 1926.