McLendon Park

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

McLendon Park is a Birmingham city park located at 400 Graymont Avenue in the Graymont neighborhood. It is most noted for being the site of Legion Field, which itself houses the Birmingham Department of Parks & Recreation.

The park property was purchased in 1923 by the Birmingham City Commission with the support of members David McLendon and W. L. Harrison. At they time, they proposed that the park serve as a "racial buffer" between neighborhoods zoned for white and black residents. The boundaries of those districts were at the time in danger of becoming blurred, but were cast into law by the 1926 Birmingham Zoning Ordinance.

The master plan developed by the Olmsted Brothers during 1924, called "A Park System for Birmingham" , found that the park (now named in McLendon's honor) was large enough to serve both as a neighborhood park and as a location for large athletic fields. The plan recommended that adjoining lots be purchased to expand the park.

By 1926 a more ambitious athletic facility was proposed. Architect David O. Whilldin drew up plans for a 21,000-seat stadium costing $439,000. It was dedicated on November 19, 1927 and expanded in later decades into an 83,810-seat multi-tiered stadium dubbed "The Football Capital of the South". Improvements to the stadium were constructed with labor from the Works Progress Administration.

In 1935 the area south of the park was recommended as the first public housing site in Birmingham to be funded by the Public Works Administration. Under the plan African-American families in the area would be forced to move to make way for the new apartments. The difficulty of finding equal housing for those black residents brought the hardships of the 1926 zoning law into relief. The project, called Smithfield Court, was completed in 1937.

In 1951 the city installed lighting standards and began scheduling Birmingham Amateur Baseball Federation games at the park at night. Residents living on 6th Street North filed a lawsuit, which reached the Supreme Court of Alabama in 1953. That court overturned a lower court's order to suspend night games and instead enjoined the city to screen the spread of the lights from the adjacent houses.

The park, along with numerous others, was rededicated by Birmingham City Council ordinance in 2000.

On June 4, 2012 McLendon Park was announced as a beneficiary of a $25,000 "Sprite Spark Parks" grant to fund improvements to the park's basketball courts, bicycle racks, walking paths, water fountains, trash receptacles and landscaping.

References

Retrieved from "http://bhamwiki.com/w/index.php?title=McLendon_Park&oldid=146396"