Every kid who ever pitched a ball or swung a bat with his dad had heard of Cooperstown, perhaps dreamed of one day being there. Even if most of them had no idea where Cooperstown was. How is it that a small upstate-New York town of 2,000 residents wound up the home of one of the most well-known institutions in all of sports? Simple: they just took the initiative.

On this day, June 12, in 1939 Cooperstown opened the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Not yet affiliated with the major leagues, it was intended as a local tourist attraction, and a dedication to the sport that by some accounts began there, by Abner Doubleday, in a cow pasture.

Cooperstown builders could not have even dreamed that Major League Baseball, the sport’s governing body, take notice almost right away. MLB’s marketing department decided to dedicate the Hall of Fame to the sport’s past greats, and sent out ballots to members Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Anyone in the association over 10 years could nominate and vote for a maximum of 10 players, and by the museum’s opening already several dozen players, coaches and umpires were nominated.