Centennial Celebration Planned For South Haven’s Ratcliffe Field

southhaven-4
southhaven-4

A celebration is planned for next month to mark the 100th birthday of South Haven’s Ratcliffe Field. The South Haven Rams have played football at the field on Hubbard Street since 1916, making it one of the state’s oldest continually-used high school sports fields. South Haven Public Schools Marketing Coordinator Tara Wilkinson says the school and the local historical association are teaming up to celebrate the field on September 9.

“It just means a lot to the whole community,” Wilkinson told WSJM. “Most people in this town grew up here and graduated from South Haven, and of course it’s been around forever, so everyone has some kind of a memory from Ratcliffe Field, and of course now their children and grandchildren do, too,” Wilkinson told WSJM.

Wilkinson says the very first game ever played at Ratcliffe Field was a baseball game, all the way back in the spring of 1916. The first football game there was played that fall. The field on Hubbard Street was owned by a banker named William Ratcliffe, who let the school use it for free for ten years. In 1926, he sold it to the district for one dollar. When the Rams hold their first home game of the season this year, a special tail gate party and carnival will be held at the field. They’ll also have historical information on display, and special guests. The school district has set up a special Ratcliffe Field section of its website.