A new steel and concrete stadium, home to the American League baseball team the Philadelphia Athletics, opened to fans on April 12, 1909. Situated on ground bounded by what are now West Lehigh Avenue, North 20th Street, West Somerset Street, and North 21st Street, Shibe Park was constructed in less than year as the Athletics desperately needed a new place to play. At the time, they were playing in Columbia Park, a wood park that was quickly deteriorating, located in the city's Brewerytown neighborhood.