White Stadium, Boston, MA

The George Robert White Schoolboy Stadium, known as White Stadium, is in the Playstead section of Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1945 with $2 million ($32 million when adjusted for inflation) from the George Robert White Fund. George Robert White was an American Philanthropist who left a trust of $5,000,000 to the City of Boston upon his death in 1922. White’s will stipulated that the income from the trust could only create works of public beauty and utility in the city of Boston. 

White Stadium seats 10,000 people and is managed by the Boston Public School athletics for their various sporting events. The first game played at the stadium was between Roxbury Memorial and Boston Latin School in 1949. In the 1960s and 1970s, various concerts and rallies were held at the stadium, including some by the Black Panthers. One concert called “Uptown in the Park” was produced by the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, took place in 1974, and featured performances from Sly and the Family Stone, the Hues Corporation, as well as comedian Richard Pryor. 

The stadium has become worn down by time, and needs a restoration. In 2013, John Fish, the owner of Suffolk Construction Co., proposed a $45 million project to renovate and expand the stadium. Fish pledged $5 million of his own money to kick-start the fundraising effort. Unfortunately, Martin J. Walsh, the mayor of Boston, tabled the effort, citing the need for other priorities in the city budget. 

White Stadium is open for public use from 7am-4pm on Monday through Thursday. A free sports camp for kids from 7 to 14 is held there every summer.