Stockham Park

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Stockham Park
Bham Park and Rec logo.jpg Birmingham City Parks
Years [[]]–present
Location 4221 8th Avenue North, (map)
Kingston
Area 6.52 acres
Website birminghamal.gov

Stockham Park or Stockham-Kingston Park is a 6.52 acre public park located at 4221 8th Avenue North in Birmingham's Kingston neighborhood. The park includes a baseball diamond with a pressbox and concession stand. There is a football gridiron marked in the outfield, and two small basketball courts in the southeast corner of the park. A playground adjoins a picnic pavilion, which is equipped with a barbecue grill.

Stockham Park was originally developed by Stockham Valves & Fittings on land they owned, and its diamond was the home field for the company's celebrated Industrial League baseball team. Later the City of Birmingham helped to operate the park, even before it became public property.

In the 1930s workers for the Civil Works Administration rebuilt the park's baseball diamond, expanded the tennis courts, leveled a wooded area and improved drainage ditches, trimmed trees and added a crushed slag walkway. A 29-year-old Black man, George Taylor was shot to death in an alley near the park on August 23, 1934, after reportedly threatening three women.

In 1963 Stockham Park was one of several sites considered for construction of the high school football stadium which became Lawson Field in Eastwood. In 1966 temporary bleachers were brought in for the park to host the 23rd annual East-West Game, a charity event organized by the Alabama Lions Club to benefit its Sight Conservation Association.

The 2018 Birmingham budget included just over $317,000 for capital improvements to Stockham Park. In 2021 the Live HealthSmart Alabama initiative spearheaded another round of improvements to the park, including new sidewalks and ramps, bus shelters, landscaping, repainting of park structures, and improved lighting.

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