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NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address: NE 57th Ave historic name:Normandale Field
Portland, Multnomah County (97213) current/other names:Erv Lind Field
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot: / 100,200
location descr:Corner of NE 57th Ave and Hassalo Street twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 2E 31 NW/NE
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:site height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1948 second date: date indiv listed:05/20/2024
primary orig use: Outdoor Recreation orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Modern Period: Other prim style comments:
secondary style: Utilitarian sec style comments:
primary siding: Standard Brick siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood Sheet
plan type: architect:
builder:
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Portland LGBTQ+ Historic Resources 2024 RLS Survey & Inventory Project 2024
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 05/20/2024
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 03/07/2023
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
Normandale Field is a softball diamond with fixed bleachers, a press box, concessions building, and other associated structures at the southeast corner of a 13.7-acre public park, Normandale Park. The field area is just over 3 acres in size and extends to the outer curving fence line around the outfield, including a separate 40' x 40' tax lot around the brick concessions building. The press box and restroom originally built in 1948 and renovated in 1953 has an upper wood-panel faced structure over a concrete and brick restroom. Metal seating is affixed to original terracing built into berms.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
Normandale Field is a municipal softball field at Normandale Park. Built in 1948 and renamed as Erv Lind Field in 1965 to honor Portlander Erv Lind, it is the only field constructed primarily for a women's major league team of any sport in Oregon. It is primarily associated with the two-time women’s national championship softball team the Erv Lind Florists (American Softball Association champions in 1944 and 1964), serving as their home field from 1948 to 1964. During this period, it was one of Portland’s few known outdoor public spaces where LGBTQ+ women could meet. Normandale Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the areas of women’s, LGBTQ+, and entertainment/recreation history for its association with the Erv Lind Florists and as a public outdoor space for LGBTQ+ Portlanders between 1948 and 1964.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library:City of Portland Archives and Records Center University Library:
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:Oregon Queer History Collective; Umbrella Project;
Bibliography:
Oregon Queer History Collective. "Louise Chris Mazzuca." Queer Heroes Northwest 2012. https://www.glapn.org/6305ChrisMazucca.html. Oral history interview with Chris Mazzuca, by Sarah Tolle and Andrew Clark, SR 11231, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Oral history interview with Patrica A. Cach, by Aaron Powell and Dorothy Zapf, SR 11232, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Oral history interview with Sally H. Cohn, by Jade Davis and Erin Babcock Musick, SR 11237, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. "Those Fabulous florists! Women's softball and the flowering of a lesbian community in Portland." Northwest Gay and Lesbian Historian 1, no 4 (June 1997) 1, 6. Hunter-Morton, Ismoon Maria. "We played softball-everybody just did that…It was like a little community!' Evr Lind Stadium and Portland Lesbian Softball." Final Draft Research Paper. December 3, 2000. Patterson, Celina. "'Exuberant Joy': Playing Women's Softball in the 1970s with Portland's Openly Gay Team." Oregon Historical Society 125, no 1 Spring 2024). Westly, Erica. Fastpitch: The Untold Story of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game. New York, New York: Touchstone, 2016. Littlewood, Mary L. Women's Fastpitch Softball- The Path to the Gold: An Historical Look at Women's Fastpitch in the United States. Columbia, Missouri: The National Fastpitch Coaches Association, 1998. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "1944 Lind and Pomeroy Florists World Softball Champions." Timeline. https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/1944-lind-and-pomeroy-florists-world-softball-champions/. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "1964 Erv Lind Softball World Champions." Timeline. https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/1964-erv-lind-softball-world-champions/. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "Erv Lind-Softball." Timeline.https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/erv-lind-softball/. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "Carolyn Fitzwater – Softball." Timeline. https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/carolyn-fitzwater-softball/. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "Betty Evans Grayson – Softball." Timeline. https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/betty-evans-grayson-softball/. Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "Margaret Dobson – Softball." Timeline. https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/margaret-dobson-softball/.