![Chicago Cubs Players Merkle, Zeider, Hollocher, & Deal Chicago Cubs baseball players Merkle, Zeider, Charles Hollocher, and Deal standing in front of a dugout at Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1918.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-08.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Few sports teams are as closely associated with their home as the Chicago Cubs are with Wrigley Field, which means Wednesday is a big day for fans: it was precisely 100 years ago—on April 20, 1916—that the Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park, which later acquired the name it bears today.
Both the park and the team are older than 100, however. The Cubs can trace their lineage all the way back to the earliest days of professional baseball, and have gone by their current moniker since 1907. The ballpark, meanwhile, opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park, home of the Chicago Federals. These photos trace Weeghman Park’s evolution into the famous Wrigley Field, from construction to the arrival of the Cubs to the team’s purchase by William Wrigley Jr.
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As explained by Les Krantz’s Wrigley Field: The Centennial, the Federals played in the fledgling Federal League, a competitor of the established National League, and were owned by businessman and restaurateur Charles Weeghman. After only two years, however, the Federal League fell apart, leaving Weeghman with an empty park (on which he’d spent a quarter of a million dollars) and a successful neighboring National League team that belonged to absentee owners who were willing to sell. Weeghman bought the Cubs franchise and moved them to his own park.
In 1918, he sold the team to William Wrigley Jr., who named the park after himself in 1926.
Read a 1929 cover story about the Chicago Cubs and William Wrigley Jr., here in the TIME Vault: World Series
![Wrigley Field Construction taking place at Federal League ballpark Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1914. From the Chicago Daily News collection.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Chicago Whales Baseball Team At Weeghman Park Chicago Whales Baseball Team At Weeghman Park in 1914](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Flag-Raising Ceremony At Weeghman Park Flag-Raising Ceremony At Weeghman Park in 1914](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Mayor Thompson Throws First Pitch Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson throwing first pitch at a Chicago Whales baseball game at Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1915.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Baseball Fans At Weeghman Park On Opening Day Baseball Fans At Weeghman Park On Opening Day](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Chicago Cubs Player Heinie Zimmerman At Weeghman Park National League's Chicago Cubs baseball player Heinie Zimmerman standing in front of a floral arch at Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1916.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Chicago Cubs Player Bill Wortman At Weeghman Park Chicago Cubs Player Bill Wortman At Weeghman Park in 1916](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Chicago Cubs Players Merkle, Zeider, Hollocher, & Deal Chicago Cubs baseball players Merkle, Zeider, Charles Hollocher, and Deal standing in front of a dugout at Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1918.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Chicago Cubs Player Newkirk Chicago Cubs Player Newkirk in 1920](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Alexander, Wrigley, & Killefer At Weeghman Park Chicago Cubs baseball player Alexander, co-owner William Wrigley Jr, and manager Bill Killefer standing behind a batting practice backstop on the field at Weeghman Park, located at 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago, Illinois, 1922.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-10.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Crowds waiting in lines outside Weeghman Park Crowds waiting in lines outside Weeghman Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1923. Weeghman Park was renamed Wrigley FIeld in 1927. From the Chicago Daily News collection.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160411-weeghman-park-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com