Kern’s grove was a ball field and picnic area owned by the Kern estate at the south end of Slatington atop “school hill.” Elevation there was about 640 ft. compared to the elevation of Slatington by the Lehigh River at about 400 ft.
Late 1930s aerial photo showing the location of Victory Park in Slatington
I have not been able to determine which specific Kern estate owned Kern’s Grove in the early twentieth century. There were several “Kern estates” in existence at the time in Slatington, all of which descended in one way or another from Nicholas Kern (1693-1749), who held warrants for 500 acres of land when he first settled in the Slatington area in 1737. His first log home was built roughly at the present-day intersection of Diamond and Main Streets in lower Slatington. By 1910, Kern’s grove was a popular picnic destination, and the ball field grounds hosted baseball and football games as well as other athletic events.
In 1915, the Order of the Knights of Friendship (OKF) raised the question of purchasing the ball field and picnic area and turning it into a municipal park. By January 1919, the proposal had turned into a public campaign to buy the grove with donations and turn it into a memorial park in honor of the soldiers who had fought in the World War. The Slatington Memorial Park Association was set up to raise the estimated $2,300 to purchase the park from the Kern estate. Money was also going to be needed to clear trees, build a pavilion and clean up the park. In April 1919, a charter for the Slatington Victory Park Association was finalized.
Work at the park took some time to complete, but on 8 July 1921, Slatington dedicated Victory Park, which included not only the ball fields but also a picnic area, a dance pavilion, and a few years later, a roller-skating rink. In 1934, when funds became tight, control of the park was turned over to the school district since the school was using the athletic fields. Then, in February 1945, the borough agreed to take over Victory Park as long as the school board agreed to help maintain the road to athletic field, which was still being used for high school athletics.
Circa 1930s photo of Victory Park (view is looking east)
In 1938, there were major improvements undertaken at the field, which meant that there was no high school baseball team that year. The work was funded as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project that the school board approved after two years of debate. The project included “the leveling of the athletic field. A grass diamond will be made. The football field will not cover the infield of the baseball diamond. The home plate will be moved closer to the grandstand, and the stretch in right field will be leveled.” (The Morning Call, 17 February 1938). There was also envisioned four tennis courts, an outdoor basketball court, and a volleyball court at an estimated cost of $23,500. When completed, the football field was completely in the grass part of the field; there was no longer a slight hill in right field; and there were floodlights added on top of the grandstand. The field was ready for the opening game of the football season on 1 October 1938.
After the 1938 reconstruction, the Victory Park field for baseball and football games remained relatively unchanged over the years, and it remained the site for Slatington High School football games through November 1961.
Football games typically took place at 2 or 230 PM on Saturdays as there were no lights for the field. My cousin Joanna recalled that back in the 1950s, East Stroudsburg was the only high school in the area that had a field with lights. The Thanksgiving games were always held at 10 AM.
My cousin mentioned several other things about the Victory Park field in the 1950s.
There was a refreshment stand at the field, and it was always manned by members of the senior class who used the funds to pay for the class trip to Washington, DC and the annual dance sponsored by the senior class.
There were no team facilities at the field. (There was also not a lot of parking next to the field.) Teams used the locker rooms at Smith Hall to get ready for the game, and then were bussed up to the field.
The band would also gather at Smith Hall and then march up Main Street to the game, and then back down Main Street after the game.
My cousin also confirmed that it was usually windy and cold for the games up there. My aunt Gene, who went to games in the early 1940s, also remembered that it could be bitterly cold for the Thanksgiving games.
Stands were always filled with women and children, while the men stood around the field. The Thanksgiving games were usually packed.
The Thanksgiving morning game was different than the usual Saturday afternoon games, which had their own routine. For the Thanksgiving games, there was always a pep rally, and in the 1950s, my cousin remembers her brother going to the “bury the hatchet dinner” a few days before the game at the Moose Hall in Slatington for the football players and their parents.
When the new Slatington High School opened in 1959 on Kuehner Hill in Slatington (technically 600 Diamond Street), the school board committed to no longer using the Victory Park site for high school games. A Northern Lehigh Swimming Pool Association was organized in June 1960 with hopes of having a pool ready to go by the summer of 1961 with Victory Park one of several sites under consideration. By February 1961, it had been decided to focus on Victory Park as the site for a pool, and fund raising got underway. But since the high school still intended to play the home football games at Victory Park in the fall of 1961, that pushed pool plans further into the future. The pool opened for the first time on Memorial Day, Thursday, 30 May 1963 with the grand opening on Saturday, 15 June 1963, after the school year was over.
The pool is still in operation as of 2023, and there exists a Little League baseball field—it’s been there since I played on it around 1970--on part of the former Victory Park ball field.
Current photo of Victory Park field