Howze-Sanford Park
Howze-Sanford Park (originally Pratt City Colored Park) is a 10.93-acre Birmingham city park located at 320 Avenue D Pratt, north of 5th Street Pratt, on the western side of the Central Pratt neighborhood.
In 1925 Boaz Howze and James Sanford of the Pratt City Civic League began petitioning the Birmingham Board of Parks and Recreation to build "a park for the kids" as a compliment to the Pratt City Park open only to white residents. Their efforts went unrealized until the land was formally acquired from U.S. Steel. In the late 1950s the park routinely received about a tenth of the funding as the white park.
A new community was dedicated at the park on April 27, 1969. Howze and Sanford's son, James Jr attended the dedication. The Western High School band performed at the opening.
The park is anchored by the Howze-Sanford Park Recreation Center and also includes an asphalt-paved basketball court, a barbecue pavilion, three tennis courts, a playground and a walking track encircling a grassy open space.
In the wake of the April 2011 tornado outbreak which devastated the Pratt community, plans were developed to add a community storm shelter to the park.
References
- "Pratt City man sees rec center realized at last" (April 28, 1969) unidentified newspaper clipping - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
- Edgemon, Erin (December 1, 2016) "New storm shelters ready in Birmingham before tornado season." The Birmingham News