Literally, thousands of people play at the Historic Garfield Street Paddleball Courts every year- but few of those people realize that they're playing at a designated historic site. Or that not long ago the Courts were about to be demolished, the land razed and a parking garage put in its place. These and other little known facts I gleaned from a short interview with Wally Schmidt, the Historic Garfield Street Paddleball Courts' manager, protector and benefactor.     

    Largely, through his continued efforts, we still have these courts, lights and even a cold water fountain- something I've never seen in a public facility of this kind.

    On this page are links to Adobe Acrobat PDF files of very informative original documents Wally entrusted me with. Did you know that over the years, many famous people have played on the very same courts you play on? Find out who by reading the documents! We scanned them and converted them to PDF files and posted them here for those curious about the history of the courts we play on.
    You'll need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view these documents or you can download it by clicking the link or the Acrobat icon at the bottom of the page.

• Request for Preservation of Historical Site-  PDF file of the document submitted by Wally for the purpose of getting the Courts declared a historical site. Document contains a brief history of the courts which makes for interesting reading. Which famous people have played at the Historic Courts? Read this document and find out!
  
  

• Request for players and friends of paddleball- PDF file of a letter requesting support during a public hearing before the  Community Planning Division and the Historic Preservation Society.
  
  

• Proposal- PDF file of the official document Wally submitted to the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board and the Historic Preservation Board. Document contains additional history of our favorite Courts.