As reported in the New York Clipper in 1871, "Last season crowds of roughs used to gather there every evening and annoy the regular ball players so much that finally the Hoboken authorities interfered and put a stop to ball playing except by clubs having special permission from the city authorities. ... [T]he south field has been engaged for the season by the Knickerbocker, Eagle and Social Clubs, and no other clubs will be permitted to use the field. On the north field the Gothams [and] the Columbia College Club [will play]. ... The western field has been set apart for the Saturday games of the newspaper nines." Baseball was played at the Elysian Fields for about 50 years, although the date of the last recorded game is unknown. Just about all games played at the grounds were amateur matchups. The last known published reference to a baseball game played at the Elysian Fields occurred in 1889; the Jersey City News, of September 4, 1889, carried a report of a September 2 game between the Jersey of Hoboken and the Palisades of North Hudson. In 1890 and thereafter, no known newspaper references to baseball games at the Elysian Fields have been found. The only documented professional games played on the Elysian grounds occurred in 1888 between black (Negro league) teams as part of a series of championship matches. Colonnade Hotel In 1830, the Stevens family erected near Turtle Cove a Grecian-style pavilion, known as the Colonnade, which opened for business in 1831. Stevens boasted that it was "devoted largely to the worship of Bacchus" (drinking and revelry). There was already a tavern on the premises, the "large commodious '76 House," or "Tavern on the Knoll," an inn situated on the sloping lawn between the ferry dock and Stevens mansion. The Colonnade's "white front and Doric pillars made it an impressive edifice." The Colonnade appears prominently in countless 19th century illustrations of activities at the Elysian Fields. It was one of the favorite hangouts of ball players after the conclusion of games. Irish-born Michael McCarty became proprietor in 1841, and the venue became so closely identified with him that it was often referred to as McCarty's Hotel. (It was also casually known as the "Pavilion.") "For special events," as recounted in Base Ball Founders, "he set up stages or pavilions around the hotel so that patrons could eat or drink to