| Latta Park | |
|---|---|
 Latta Park Pavilion | |
 | |
| Type | Public park |
| Location | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Coordinates | 35°12′35″N 80°51′03″W / 35.2096°N 80.8507°W |
| Area | 31 acres |
| Created | 1897 |
| Operated by | Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation |
| Website | Latta Park |
Latta Park is a 31-acre urban park at 601 East Park Avenue in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. It features courts for tennis, volleyball, and basketball, as well as many benches and picnic facilities, playgrounds, walking trails, fitness trails, and soccer fields.[1] Latta Park was designed to be kid-friendly and is one of the five Charlotte parks that feature a "sprayground", a water themed playground where children can splash and jump.[2]
Latta Park, as well as the neighborhood it sits in, are both named after Edward Dilworth Latta, the early 20th century Charlotte entrepreneur and real estate developer.[3] The park was designed by the English landscape architect Joseph Forsyth Johnson.[4] Adjacent to Latta Park is the Tom Sykes Recreation Center.[5]
Originally, Latta Park covered a much larger area and even included a baseball park, 1/3-mile cycling track, and grounds rented by the Mecklenburg Fair Association.[6] The Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball team played home games at the Latta Park Baseball Field, and the Philadelphia Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers practiced and played spring training exhibition games at the ballpark in 1899, 1900, and 1901.[7]
- ^ "Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation: Latta Park".
- ^ "Charlotte Observer: Kids (and their elders) keep cool at spraygrounds, August 03, 2008". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ Hanchett, Thomas W. "Dilworth - The 1911 Expansion" (PDF). historysouth.org.
- ^ CBS Charlotte: A Guide To Dilworth and South End
- ^ "Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation: Tom Sykes Recreation Center".
- ^ "05109-2-sh2-tc1". 31 March 2017.
- ^ "Real Freaking History In Charlotte: Baseball". tangentsmag.com. August 17, 2017. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
The history of the class D minor league team stretched back to 1892 when they played in a baseball stadium in Latta Park.