Off West 158th Street in Upper Manhattan, there’s a stairway that once led down to one of the most iconic stadiums in New York City. This is the John T. Brush Stairway—one of the last surviving relics of the Polo Grounds.
The most famous version of the Polo Grounds was built in 1890 in Coogan’s Hollow, near the western shore of the Harlem River. Although it was home to five New York sports teams, it’s best known as the home of the New York Giants—the baseball team.
In 1913, the Giants built the stairway to connect the top of Coogan’s Bluff—a hill that overlooked the stadium—down to the ticket booths at the Polo Grounds. At the time, fans could watch the games for free from the top of the hill, so the stairway was meant to encourage them to come down and actually buy tickets.The stairway was named after John T. Brush, the longtime owner of the Giants, who had died a year earlier.
In 1957, after 74 years of calling New York home, the Giants announced they were moving to San Francisco at the end of the season—following the Dodgers to the West Coast. The stadium continued to host other teams, including the Mets and the Titans—now known as the Jets. By 1961, the stadium had fallen into disrepair.
Eventually, the city took over the land through eminent domain, planning to demolish the stadium and build a housing project on the site. On December 14th, 1963, the Jets played the Buffalo Bills in what would be the final sporting event ever held at the Polo Grounds.
In 1964, the stadium was demolished—using the same wrecking ball that had taken down Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
In 2013, the John T. Brush Stairway was restored by NYC Parks and Recreation, with funding from all the teams that had once called the Polo Grounds home: the New York Giants, the Jets, the Mets, the Yankees, and the San Francisco Giants.
Today, the John T. Brush Stairway remains a quiet but powerful reminder of New York’s rich sports history.