Tournament Park Virtual Virtual Cache
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(virtual)
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LarsThorwald presents a companion cache to our nearby GEEK COLLEGE MICRO. Come see a tiny slice of Pasadena's history: the site of the first Rose Bowl game!
Tournament Park may be small, but its significance to Pasadena's history - and to that of the Tournament of Roses itself - is quite large:
The first Tournament of Roses was staged in 1890 at this very location by members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest eager to showcase their new home's mild winter weather. "In New York, people are buried in snow," announced Professor Charles F. Holder at a Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."
More than 2,000 people turned out on New Year's Day to watch a parade of flower-covered carriages, followed by foot races, polo matches and tugs-of-war on the town lot. The abundance of flowers prompted Professor Holder to suggest "Tournament of Roses" as a suitable name for the festival.
During the next few years, the festival expanded to include marching bands and motorized floats. The games on the town lot (named Tournament Park in 1900) included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and a race between a camel and an elephant (the elephant won).
Reviewing stands were built along the Parade route, and Eastern newspapers began to take notice of the event. In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take charge of the festival, which had grown too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle.
In 1902, the first Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park, where the University of Michigan defeated Stanford University, 49-0.
In 1922, the famous Rose Bowl was built in the beautiful Arroyo Seco area of Pasadena, a few miles to the west... and that's when Tournament Park began to, well... shrink! The park you find today is a mere slice of its former size - most of the surrounding land is taken up with Cal Tech athletic fields and some truly stunning homes - but the park (open 8 until dusk) is still worth the visit. You'll find a playground, some tables and BBQ's, a bathroom... and a HISTORICAL PLAQUE:
This is where the Virtual Cache part comes in! Once you find the plaque, you'll need to e-mail us three pieces of information you'll learn by reading it:
First: Tournament Park was the official terminus of the first transcontinental airplane flight. Calbraith (Cal) Rodgers landed on November 5, 1911. From where did his flight originate?
Second: just what did Roy Knabenshue pilot from the park on March 20, 1909?
And, third: what form of transportation is pictured on the plaque itself?
Send us this information, and you'll be credited with the cache... and with learning a little more about the historic areas of Pasadena.
Good luck! And don't forget to give GEEK COLLEGE MICRO a visit while you're in the area!
Additional Hints
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