Hyde Park (Massachusetts) Football Team

Benefit Program from March of 1895, picturing the 1894 Hyde Park* Championship team. The benefit was held to raise money for the Hyde Park Football Team which included William Henry Lewis (lower right corner) (see August 10, 2015 blog posting). 

 

Oversized albumin matching the benefit photo of the 1894 Hyde Park team.

 

 

In 1893 Hyde Park applied for and was admitted to the Suburban Football League (Eastern Massachusetts). At the time the league consisted of teams from Lynn, Newton and West Roxbury.

In 1894, the team was bolstered by ex-collegians, including William Henry Lewis, who played for Hyde Park this year. A larger complement of opposition this year included league and non-league teams and included the Brockton Athletic Association, Lynn, Newton, Dorchester,  the Haverhill Athletic Association, Tufts College,  the Highland Athletic Association, and MIT (the only loss of the season).

Other games had been scheduled for 1894, however teams backed out rather than suffering a presumed loss to a powerful Hyde Park. This included teams from the Manual Training School, Andover and a second round of matches with Newton and Dorchester. Hyde Park retained the League championship that it had also won in 1893. For the 1894 season Hyde Park scored 140 points to the opposition’s 10. 

*We have seen reference to Hyde Park as the Hyde Park Athletic Association in several sources.

Dartmouth College "Old Division Football" 1870s

A fall football game on the Dartmouth College Green. Reed Hall on the left, Gates House, Bissell Hall, Chase residence and the Dartmouth Hotel.

Old Division Football was played exclusively on the Dartmouth College green. It was a brand of football with no limitations as to the size of the teams (normally of equal numbers), and where the two defended ends of the field in their entirety were considered the goal line. A set of rules was initially established for this game in 1871. Old Division was played primarily between classes or combinations thereof, such as contests between freshman and sophomores or between combined teams of freshman and juniors competing against sophomores and seniors.

This is a very rare early cabinet photo, picturing what some might term mob football. Image 7 3/8 x 4 3/8.