Maclin Park

Agnes Maclin Park is a Birmingham city park located at 2701 F. L. Shuttlesworth Drive near the Collegeville Housing Community in the Collegeville neighborhood of North Birmingham. It is named in honor of Agnes Maclin, wife of a physician who donated the land to the city as a park. The park's athletic and recreational facilities have been managed by the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District.

An open ditch running across the outfield of the baseball diamond at Maclin Park was filled in during a community clean-up campaign in 1971.

As part of its evaluation of the 35th Avenue Superfund Site, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tested soil at Maclin Park in 2013. At the ballfield area they found levels of lead in excess of the minimum needed to trigger soil replacement work as part of the North Birmingham Environmental Collaboration Project.

Hendon & Huckestein Architects was commissioned to design renovations to the park in 2015. The $1.5 million project was to include a new recreation center, football and baseball fields, new landscaping, a new swimming pool and a splash pad.

In 2017 the city announced plans for a major extension of Maclin Park eastward to 33rd Street North. The expansion would include a Civil Rights Movement monument honoring the legacy of Fred Shuttlesworth and a welcome center and amphitheater suitable for programming as part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. The historic and current Bethel Baptist Church buildings would be included within the overall six-block extension. An estimated $5 million in funding for the 18-acre greenspace would come from both public and private sources, including grants related to the EPA clean-up project.

References

• Bryant, Joseph D. (April 8, 2016) "Railroad overpass construction, park renovations to be highlighted with North Birmingham ceremony." The Birmingham News
• Edgemon, Erin (June 7, 2017) "$5 million Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth memorial, green space proposed for Birmingham's Collegeville." The Birmingham News