Sulphur Dell was a minor league baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally known as Sulphur Springs Ball Park and later Athletic Park, it was used for baseball for nearly 100 years, from 1870 to 1963. Its longest tenant was the Southern Association's Nashville Vols, who played there from 1901 to 1963. The ballpark, demolished in 1969, was located in the block bounded by present-day Jackson Street, Fourth Avenue North, Harrison Street, and Fifth Avenue North. First Tennessee Park, a new ballpark which opened in 2015, was built for the Nashville Sounds Triple-A team on the site of the original ballpark.Sulphur Dell was originally situated in the northeastern corner of the block with home plate facing southwest. Prior to the 1927 season, the entire ballpark was demolished and rebuilt in the southeastern corner with home plate facing northeast. The ballpark's best-known features, which were born of this realignment, were it's short distance to the right field wall (262 ft (80 m)) and it's significant "terrace" or sloping outfield: a steep incline that ran along the entire outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields.HistoryEarly history (1850s–1884)Sulphur Springs Ball Park, as it was first known, was located in an area referred to by early settlers as French Lick Springs. Pioneers came to this bottomland, or dell, for trading and watering at a natural sulphur spring. Also known as Sulphur Springs Bottom, this later became a popular area for picnicking and recreation.
