Short answers, pulled from the story.
Records from 1287 show the Synod of Exeter banned such games because they damaged church buildings. Northern and Central Americans played similar games as early as 1500 BC, most famously the Aztecs with their Mesoamerican ballgame.
Two handball courts existed in San Francisco by 1873, marking the earliest record of the modern game in the United States. Beach-goers in New York City developed one-wall handball by hitting bald tennis balls against wooden jetties lining beaches.
Four-wall courts form a rectangular box with a front wall measuring twenty feet wide and twelve feet high. Side walls extend thirty-two feet long and twelve feet high while back walls reach twelve feet high with an above gallery for referees and spectators.
Joseph Sobek developed racquetball in 1949 while playing handball with a strung racquet in Greenwich, Connecticut. Earl Riskey invented four-wall paddleball in 1930 as a physical-education instructor at the University of Michigan.
An estimated 2,299 public handball courts occupy the five boroughs of New York City alone. Today the sport thrives in parks, beaches, and high school yards across New York City, Lynbrook, Philadelphia, and Chicago.