Who Were These People?

Part 3: A.H. Moffet

August 17, 2022

 By Carol Jenkner

            Moffet Stadium, built in 1937, is listed as a historic Kansas baseball stadium and is one of the older ones still in use. Why is it called Moffet Stadium and not simply Larned Stadium? The easy explanation is that the land for the stadium and surrounding park was donated by a man named A. H. Moffet.

            Mr. Moffet first took up residence in Garfield in the 1880s where the family opened the Moffet Bros. Private Bank and Mercantile Company in 1889. The Moffet Bros. Bank was moved to Larned in 1896 where it became the First National Bank in 1910.

            Moffet and E.E. Frizell offered land once called Moffet’s Park where a residential area was developed in the early 1900s. The southern end of this development once contained a miniature golf course. There was much discussion about whether to continue plans to build a stadium at Lowrey Park or take the offer from Moffet and Frizell to build a large ball field with a stadium. The Lowrey Park idea lost favor, partially because the area flooded when there were heavy rains.

            The field, with several changes and delays was finally completed in 1937. It was named Moffet Stadium because A. H. Moffet was the principal donor for the project. Mr. Moffet, did not live to see the stadium named in his honor completed. He died August 17, 1933 in Gallup, New Mexico at the age of 68. He was also an enthusiastic naturalist and prominent in the Boy Scout movement in Larned.