Locomotive Park

Before it held a locomotive, this ground was Kingman's rodeo and ballfield, and it saw real baseball. The Chicago Cubs played a local nine here in March 1917, and in 1924 the Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates met in an exhibition arranged by George Boots Grantham, a Kingman-raised infielder who spent 1922 to 1934 in the majors with the Cubs, Pirates, Reds, and Giants and reached the 1925 World Series. The rodeo grounds became a roadside park in 1935, and the Santa Fe steam engine arrived later to give the place its name.

What the plaque says

Before transformation into a roadside park on U.S. 66, U.S. 93, and U.S. 466 in 1935, this was the rodeo grounds that were also used for sporting events and fairs. In March 1917, the Chicago Cubs played a game against a local team at this site., In 1924 the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Prates played an exhibition game on the rodeo grounds. The game was arranged by George Farley "Boots" Grantham who had lived in Kingman during his childhood. From 1922 to 1934 Grantham played for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. He also played in the 1925 World Series., The locomotive donated by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1967 transformed the park.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kingman — 0.3 mi
  The working hub of Route 66 in Arizona — a railroad town named for a surveyor, Andy Devine's hometown, and the last real stop before the road's two wildest endings.
• Oatman — 22 mi
  A gold camp in the Black Mountains that outlived its mines, now run by wild burros — reached by the wildest switchbacks left on Route 66, and named for a history worth telling straight.
• Hackberry General Store — 23 mi
  Looks like a junkyard, is a shrine — the 1934 store an artist brought back from the dead, and the Route 66 stop that inspired Fillmore in Cars.

More markers nearby

• Santa Fe Locomotive No. 3759 — steps away
• Wish You Were Here — steps away
• Powerhouse — steps away
• Wagon Route — steps away