Normal Park was a modest football and baseball field on Chicago’s South Side that played an outsized role in NFL history. Tucked into a city block bounded by South Racine Avenue, South Throop Street, and West 61st and 62nd Streets, the grounds operated from roughly 1914 into the early 1950s, serving neighborhood teams long before and after its brush with professional football fame.
The field’s lasting claim is as the original home of the franchise now known across NFL history as the Cardinals. What began as the amateur Morgan Athletic Club took on hand-me-down red jerseys from the University of Chicago Maroons and, playing out of Normal Park, became the Racine Cardinals, named for Racine Avenue running along the field’s edge. That team joined the American Professional Football Association in 1920, the league that was renamed the NFL two years later.
- Arizona Cardinals played here 1920–1921 and 1926–1928. See every Cardinals stadium →
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): Chicago (Racine) Cardinals, 1920–1921 and 1926–1928
- Location: 61st Street and Racine Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
- Opened: about 1914
- Closed: early 1950s; site redeveloped by 1952
- Capacity: not publicly recorded
- Sports Hosted: Football and baseball
- Notable Fact: Source of the Cardinals’ name and red color scheme
The Ride Experience
There was no grandstand spectacle here — Normal Park was a bare-bones neighborhood gridiron, the kind of lot where a scrappy amateur club could stage Sunday games for local fans. Its significance came not from architecture but from timing: it was where a semi-pro side playing in secondhand maroon jerseys rebranded itself after the street running along the field, becoming the Racine Cardinals and, soon after, a charter member of pro football’s new national league.
The club split its home schedule between Normal Park and the larger Comiskey Park starting in 1922, before leaving the smaller field behind for good by the close of the 1920s. The Cardinals went on to relocate to St. Louis and later Arizona, but the organization’s earliest identity was forged on this unassuming Chicago block.
What Remains Today
Normal Park disappeared from the map decades ago. A Chicago Police Department facility rose on the field’s eastern end in 1952, while single-family homes now cover the western portion. The clearest trace left behind is an odd break in Elizabeth Street, which fails to connect between 61st and 62nd Streets exactly where the old field once stood.
Though nothing of the playing surface survives, Normal Park remains a touchstone for NFL historians tracing the Cardinals franchise back to its South Side roots, long before Comiskey Park, St. Louis, or the desert Southwest entered the picture.
Explore more: Explore more historic stadiums.
USB-charged warmers for cold night games — no disposable packets.
Keeps chili hot from the tailgate to the fourth quarter.
Team-color face paint in a twist-up stick — no brushes, no mess in the car.
Normal Park FAQs
Why was it called Normal Park?
The field took its name from its South Side Chicago neighborhood location; it had no connection to Normal, Illinois.
How did the Cardinals get their name from this field?
The amateur Morgan Athletic Club, playing at the field near Racine Avenue, acquired old maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago and became the Racine Cardinals, a name later changed to the Chicago Cardinals.
Does Normal Park still exist?
No. The site was redeveloped in the early 1950s; a Chicago Police Department facility and private homes now occupy the former field.
Get More from Normal Park
Log the coasters, stadiums, and venues you’ve experienced, rate Normal Park, and see what your friends thought. Get the ThrillZing app.