Washington Park was the name given to three Major League Baseball parks (or four, by some reckonings) on two different sites in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, located at Third Street and Fourth Avenue. The two sites were diagonally opposite each other at that intersection. First park The first Washington Park was bounded by Third and Fifth Streets, and Fourth and Fifth Avenues. The property contained an old building then called the Gowanus House, which stands today, albeit largely reconstructed. Known today as the Old Stone House, it was used as an impromptu headquarters by General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island, during a delaying action by 400 Maryland troops against approximately 2000 British and Hessian troops that allowed a good portion of the Continental Army to retreat to fortified positions on Brooklyn Heights. Those events inspired the ballpark's name. The ballpark was the home of the Brooklyn baseball club during 1883–1891, with a slight interruption by a destructive fire in mid-May of the 1889 season. (Some sources, such as Retrosheet, number the pre- and post-fire ballparks as separate entities.) The team's uniforms and equipment had been stored in the Old Stone House at the time and were thus saved. The team, at first called the Atlantics in reference to the old Atlantics of Brooklyn, and then known as the Bridegrooms, had started in a minor league in 1883, joined the then-major American Association in 1884, and then switched to the National League in 1890. Streetcar (trolley) tracks ran near the ballpark, inspiring one of the team's many nicknames that ultimately stuck: Trolley Dodgers. In 1891, the team moved into the Players' League one-year-old ballpark, Eastern Park in Brownsville. That move proved to be ill-advised, and Eastern Park was abandoned after six poorly attended seasons. Second park The second Washington Park was bounded by First and Third Streets, and Third and Fourth Avenues. It was located at . The park seated 18,800. It consisted of a covered grandstand behind the infield and uncovered stand down the right field line. The Brooklyn National Leaguers, by then often called the "Superbas" as well as the "Dodgers", moved into this new ballpark in 1898, where they would play for the next 15 seasons. On April 30, 1898, the Dodgers played their first game at new Washington Park and 15,000 fans attended. One of the more unusual features of