The first Washington Park was bounded by Third and Fifth Streets, and Fourth and Fifth Avenues. The property contained an old building then called the Gowanus House, which stands today, albeit largely reconstructed. Known today as the Old Stone House, it was used as an impromptu headquarters by General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island, during a delaying action by 400 Maryland troops against approximately 2000 British and Hessian troops that allowed a good portion of the Continental Army to retreat to fortified positions on Brooklyn Heights. Those events inspired the ballpark's name. The ballpark was the home of the Brooklyn baseball club during 1883–1891, with a slight interruption by a destructive fire in mid-May of the 1889 season. The team, at first called the "Atlantics" in reference to the old Atlantics of Brooklyn, had started in a minor league in 1883, joined the then-major American Association in 1884, and then switched to the National League in 1890. Streetcar tracks ran near the ballpark, inspiring the one of the team's many nicknames that ultimately stuck: Trolley Dodgers. In 1891, the team moved into the Players' League one-year-old ballpark, Eastern Park in Brownsville. That move proved to be ill-advised, and Eastern Park was abandoned after six poorly attended seasons.
Second park
The second Washington Park was bounded by First and Third Streets, and Third and Fourth Avenues. It was located at. The park seated 18,800. It consisted of a covered grandstand behind the infield and uncovered stand downthe rightfield line. The Brooklyn National Leaguers, by then often called the "Superbas" as well as the "Dodgers", moved into this new ballpark in 1898, where they would play for the next 15 seasons. On April 30, 1898, the Dodgers played their first game at new Washington Park and 15,000 fans attended. One of the more unusual features of the Park was the aroma from nearby factories and Gowanus Canal, which was a block away and curled around two sides of the ballpark. Meanwhile, owner Charlie Ebbets slowly invested in the individual lots on a larger piece of property in Flatbush, which would become the site of Ebbets Field once he had the entire block. So in 1913, the Dodgers, at that time most often called the "Robins" for their manager Wilbert Robinson, abandoned Washington Park.
Third park
The Brooklyn Tip-Tops or "BrookFeds" of the Federal League, the only major league team ever named for a loaf of bread, acquired the ballpark property in 1914, then rebuilt the second Washington Park in steel and concrete. The old park took on a modern appearance; in fact, it was nearly a duplicate of the initial version of another Federal League park in Chicago that would become Wrigley Field. However, with the Dodgers in a new and somewhat more spacious steel-and-concrete home already, Ebbets Field, there was no long-term need for Washington Park, so it was abandoned for the final time after the Federal League ended its two-year run. Part of the left center field wall of this final Washington Park still stands on the east side of 3rd Avenue, south of 1st Street, as part of a Con Edison yard.
