Select Page

John Cox Stevens

On this day on September 24th, 1785, John Cox Stevens was born at the Stevens family estate in Hoboken NJ at Castle Point, the site of today’s Stevens Institute of Technology.  Stevens was a livelong sportsman.  He was a founding member of the New York Yacht Club and later nicknamed “the Commodore”.  He led the ‘America’ syndicate which built the yacht that won the first ever America’s Cup for the NYYC in 1851.  He also served as president of the Jockey Club and was responsible for the Great North-South Match of 1823, won by the Long Island-born thoroughbred American Eclipse.

Stevens also played an important role in the growth of early baseball.  In the 1840s, a number of New York City’s early baseball clubs began to search outside of Manhattan for places suitable to practice.  The city was increasingly difficult for playing baseball.  So, several clubs including the pioneering New York Knickerbockers began to regularly cross the Hudson River by ferry to Hoboken to play at the Elysian Fields.  Stevens ran the ferries and profited immensely.  The Stevens family also owned the Elysian Fields and profited from the teams playing there.

%d bloggers like this: