View source for Crestwood Park

{{Infobox Bham park
|name         = Crestwood Park
|image        = [[File:Crestwood Park 2021.jpg|300px]]
|established  = 1946
|address      = 5400 [[Crestwood Boulevard]]
|map          = ({{Locate_address_inline | address = 5400+Crestwood+Blvd | zoom=17 | type=h }})
|neighborhood = Crestwood North
|area         = 12.11
|website      =[https://www.birminghamal.gov/parks-and-recreation/parks/ birminghamal.gov]
}}
'''Crestwood Park''' is a neighborhood park located on the north side of [[Crestwood Boulevard]] between [[53rd Street South|53rd]] and [[55th Street South|55th]] Streets in the [[Crestwood]] community of [[Birmingham]]. The park features a fenced football-sized playing field with concrete bleachers and a field house on the north side; a jogging track around the field; tennis courts; a swimming pool; a playground; a barbecue pit with a picnic shelter; and a landscaped parking lot. The park is separated from Crestwood Boulevard by a drainage swale and a steep slope, crossed by a footbridge opposite [[54th Street South]].

Currently the park's athletic fields are used not only for youth football, but also by amateur soccer leagues such as the [[Liga Latinoamericana de Fútbol]], and by the [[Magic City Lacrosse Club]].

==History==
The city first purchased the property for a park in March [[1946]], paying $6,100.

In the 1960s the [[Crestwood Civic Club]] completed numerous projects to enhance the park. They added the park's football field in the early part of the decade. The fieldhouse, which was designed at the club's expense , was submitted to the city for assistance with the $30,000 needed to construct it. The club also programmed the park, sponsoring youth athletics and cheerleading as well as Scout troops. It sponsored an annual barbecue and a program of decorating the park for Christmas, including the "Santa Claus in Crestwood Park" event.

In [[1990]] a group of  [[Crestwood North neighborhood]] residents led by [[Pride Forney]] formed the '''Friends of Crestwood Park''' to lead a campaign to revitalize the then-dilapidated park. The ongoing "Rennaissance" of the park and the neighborhood around it was celebrated annually from [[1990]] to [[1993]] with a "Rites of Spring" Festival with a maypole, artist's booths, dancers, jugglers, jesters, musicians, puppets and a mock jousting tournament. 

Proceeds from the first two events were combined with city funds for a $100,000 project to replace the old barbecue pit with a new pavilion and patio and to redesign the parking lot to increase the number of spaces and to reduce the use of the park by sleeping truck drivers. The designs, which included handicap accessibility improvements, were drawn up by neighborhood vice-president and landscape architect [[Rip Weaver]]. The work was completed in [[1992]].

In [[1996]] the sprinkler system was repaired and the playing field was re-sodded with grass cut from [[Legion Field]] in preparation for its hosting early-round soccer for the [[1996 Olympic Games]]. [[Mike Nix]], President of the [[Crestwood Colts]] youth football program, led the project, which benefitted from funding by the neighborhood association and from discretionary funds earmarked by [[Birmingham City Council]] representative [[Jimmy Blake]].

A second phase of improvements was undertaken in [[1997]]. The track was resurfaced, and all-new playground equipment was installed in [[1997]] to designs by landscape architect [[Jeff Sexton]]. A concrete retaining wall encircles the "tot lot" and serves as park signage, visible from Crestwood Boulevard. The city-funded project was completed for $160,000.

After racist graffiti was hastily removed from the park that summer, an idea to commission a mural on the retaining wall near the tennis courts as a means of discouraging graffiti was approved.

Tension between neighborhood residents and the Crestwood Colts football program resulted in a list of demands which, according to some residents, went unmet two years later. A petition circulated asking the neighborhood association to vote on a resolution asking the [[Birmingham Parks & Recreation Board]] to withdraw the Colts' lease. In the Spring of [[1999]] Blake helped to negotiate a solution where the Colts and the neighborhood jointly established a coordinating committee to act as a liaison in communicating the concerns of each group. Specific actions to be taken included having a police officer oversee parking and enforce littering laws and ending the practice of broadcasting music over the park's public address system.

Though it had been the property of the city and used as a park since the 1940s, formal dedication as a public park did not take place until [[2000]].

On [[May 12]], [[2007]] the park's playing field was rededicated as '''Claud Cotten III Memorial Field''' to recognize the contributions of [[Crestwood North neighborhood]] activist [[Claud Cotten]], who promoted organized sports for decades and served on the board of the Crestwood Colts. 

Beginning in [[2004]] a new master plan for the park's future was created by the '''Crestwood Park Improvement Committee'''. The committee conducted a needs assessment survey and worked with architect [[Jason Fondren]], Parks & Recreation Board director [[Melvin Miller]] and [[Birmingham City Council]] representative [[Valerie Abbott]] to create a conceptual plan during a design charette held at [[Girls, Inc.]]. $2.4 million was allocated for improvements by the city in [[2009]] and detailed plans were drawn up by [[Macknally Land Design]]. Construction began in December [[2011]] and the park re-opened in September [[2012]].

==References==
* Hulen, Tara (May 26, 1993) "Annual festival celebrates neighborhood's rennaissance". {{BN}}
* Hulen, Tara (February 20, 1997) "Crestwood Park to redo playground." {{BN}}
* Hulen, Tara (June 25, 1997) "Neighborhood may fight graffiti with... graffiti." {{BN}}
* Cannon, Julie Ross (September 17, 1997) "Reclaiming the park: Friends of park celebrate improvements." {{BN}}
* Crenshaw, Solomon Jr (May 5, 1999) "Crestwood, Colts reach resolution." {{BN}}
* O'Quinn, Darrell (August 8, 2011) "[http://www.the35212.com/2011/08/08/big-changes-in-store-for-crestwood-park/ Big Changes in Store for Crestwood Park]" The35212
* Ruisi, Anne (September 10, 2012) "Crestwood Park reopens as 10-month renovation almost finished." {{BN}}

[[Category:Birmingham parks]]
[[Category:Swimming pools]]
[[Category:Tennis courts]]
[[Category:Crestwood|Park]]
[[Category:Crestwood Boulevard]]
[[Category:Sports venues]]
[[Category:1946 works]]