Kelly, Thomas - Sadling Jerome Park - 1869 - Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee Design

This 1869 print by Thomas Kelly captures the crowds and carriages of the inaugural racing season at Jerome Park, the racetrack in what is now the Bronx.

Visual Elements & Composition

The composition is built around the bustle of the grounds rather than a single figure. Horses, spectators, and the social life surrounding the track fill the scene, so the eye moves across a crowded, active landscape. The work belongs to Kelly's lithograph tradition, where clear, legible scenes were made to be read quickly at a glance.

Meaning & Symbolism

Jerome Park was founded by Leonard Jerome and August Belmont to promote thoroughbred racing, and it quickly became a fixture of fashionable New York. The print records a moment when horse racing was becoming an organised spectator sport for the American elite, modelled on European sporting culture. It also reflects post-Civil War New York, a city growing fast and establishing the leisure habits of the Gilded Age. Kelly produced affordable prints that brought scenes like this into American homes, so the image documents both a racetrack and the wider appetite for national recreation and prestige.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A tee carries its artwork across the chest, where it is seen as the wearer moves through a crowd, much as the print's spectators move across the grounds at Jerome Park. The lively, busy scene suits a garment worn for everyday outings, and the 1869 date gives the shirt a clear historical story to tell in conversation.