James P. Small Memorial Stadium: Jacksonville's Oldest Ballpark

While in Jacksonville, Florida this time last year, I had the pleasure of visiting the city’s oldest park, James P. Small Memorial Stadium. The ballpark has gone by a handful of different names over the years, formerly known as Barrs Field, Durkee Park, and Myrtle Avenue Ball Park. It escaped demolition in the early 1970s after which it was renovated and renamed in honor of a beloved Stanton Senior High School coach, James P. 'Bubbling' Small. The park survives to this day as part of the National Register of Historic Places. Recently, a small museum celebrating the ballpark’s history and the history of the Negro Leagues was revamped and is set to reopen soon.

Since baseball was first played there, it has hosted the likes of the Athletics, Dodgers, Giants, Pirates, and Yankees for spring training, the Jacksonville Red Caps of the Negro American League, and the Jacksonville Braves, which featured a young Henry Aaron beginning his professional career. These days, the Edward Waters College (Buck O’Neil’s alma mater) Tigers baseball team calls J.P. Small their home.

The ballpark resides in the historic neighborhood of Durkeeville. African Americans were barred from living in many other parts of Jacksonville during the first half of the 20th century, so many settled here. A Black-owned streetcar system connected the area with downtown, drawing Edward Waters College and Cookman Institute to the area. Barrs Field (now James P. Small) was constructed by 1912. The Public Works Administration constructed a 215 unit public housing project in 1937, which also resulted in beautiful large format photographs that feature the ballpark as it stood then. Durkeeville remained home to many prominent African American educators, physicians, athletes, religious leaders, and more through the end of segregation.

Buck O’Neil greets visitors to the park.

The original ticket windows of the ballpark appear on each side of a three-arch entryway. This structure has stood since it was rebuilt after a fire in 1936. These brick, concrete, and steel ballparks have so much subtle beauty embedded in a relatively simple structure. Thinking about the people who bought tickets at these windows and walked through the main gates to see a ball game leaves me in awe. At the same time, one has to think about the fact that not very long ago, many would walk through these ballpark gates that were likely a part of their own community and were made to sit in a separate part of the grandstand simply because of racism.

The original grandstand of the ballpark (left) meets a later addition (right).

While wandering the grounds and making photographs, a man introduced himself as Ronnie. He is the caretaker of the ballpark and really lit up talking about how important the field is. He told me about the museum and how it was under construction, as well as how many well-known ballplayers had played there. Of course, I had to take his portrait. I asked what team(s) he roots for to which he replied “the ones who play here.” Once the pandemic is a bit more under control, I’d really like to go back and see him again, visit the new museum, and hopefully even catch a Tigers game.

All photographs that appear in this blog post were taken by me, Nick DiNatale. Please do not repost any images without my permission. You can contact me, or find more of my work via my website.

For more information on Durkeeville, take a minute to visit the Durkeeville Historical Society’s website. It is a wealth of information about the community.

The following video was posted very recently by WJXT4 and talks about the history of James P. Small Memorial Stadium.