--- description: It was 100 years ago that the Chicago Cubs played their first game at the park that would become Wrigley Field title: Chicago Cubs History: Photos of Early Days at Wrigley Field image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d75e1e572fbc6c2/69888e925f570fd3d0b2068e/160411-weeghman-park-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Early Photos of Wrigley Field Before it Was Wrigley Field  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2016 12:00 PM CUT  Chicago Cubs baseball players Merkle, Zeider, Charles Hollocher, and Deal standing in front of a dugout at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1918. Chicago Cubs baseball players Merkle, Zeider, Charles Hollocher, and Deal standing in front of a dugout at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1918.Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2016 12:00 PM CUT 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. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") As explained by Les Krantz’s [_Wrigley Field: The Centennial_](https://books.google.com/books?id=vcjyAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=chicago+cubs+1916+weeghman&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiyvKX3tInMAhWIPD4KHRfnDqkQ6AEITDAI#v=onepage&q=chicago%20cubs%201916%20weeghman&f=false "undefined")_,_ 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](https://books.google.com/books?id=KGyzXHbcLksC&pg=PA167&dq=chicago+cubs+1916+weeghman&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiyvKX3tInMAhWIPD4KHRfnDqkQ6AEINDAE#v=onepage&q=chicago%20cubs%201916%20weeghman&f=false "undefined")) 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](http://time.com/vault/issue/1929-10-14/page/24/ "undefined")  Construction taking place at Federal League ballpark Weeghman Park in Chicago, 1914\. From the Chicago Daily News collection. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Members of the Federal League's Chicago Whales baseball team sitting and standing in front of grandstands at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1914\. Weeghman Park was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  View of crowds standing on the field and in bleachers during a flag-raising ceremony at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1914. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson throwing first pitch at a Chicago Whales baseball game at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1915. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  National League's Chicago Cubs baseball game spectators standing in the grandstands on opening day at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1916. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  National League's Chicago Cubs baseball player Heinie Zimmerman standing in front of a floral arch at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1916. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  National League's Chicago Cubs baseball player Bill Wortman and an unidentified teammate standing outside the dugout on the field at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1916. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Chicago Cubs baseball players Merkle, Zeider, Charles Hollocher, and Deal standing in front of a dugout at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1918. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Chicago Cubs baseball player Newkirk winding up to throw a baseball at Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1920. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Left to right: 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, 1922. Chicago History Museum—Getty Images  Crowds waiting in lines outside Weeghman Park, Chicago, 1923\. From the Chicago Daily News collection. 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