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Photo, Print, Drawing Rickwood Field, 1137 Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL Birmingham Industrial District

[ Photos from Survey HABS AL-897  ]

More Resources

[ Drawings from Survey HABS AL-897  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS AL-897  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS AL-897  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Rickwood Field, 1137 Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL

Other Title

  • Birmingham Industrial District

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Southern Association
  • Southern League
  • Birmingham Black Barons
  • Birmingham Barons
  • Southeastern Engineering Company
  • Denham, VanKeuren & Denham
  • Paul Wright & Company
  • Woodward, A. H. "Rick"
  • Birmingham Baseball Association
  • Norton, Ed
  • Cincinnati Reds
  • Jebeles, G. J.
  • DeMent, Al
  • Belcher, Albert
  • Lackey, Rufus
  • Finley, Charlie
  • Clarkson, Art
  • Birmingham Board of Education
  • Truscon Steel Company
  • Dugout Restaurant
  • Negro National League (NNL)
  • Southern Negro League
  • Lavoie, Catherine C., transmitter
  • Klugh, Terra, transmitter
  • White, John Poston, project manager
  • Williams, Thomas W., field team supervisor
  • Bacus, John, field team
  • Schmidt, Barbara, field team
  • Simon, W. Greg, field team
  • Damle, Hemant S., historian
  • Lowe, Jet, photographer
  • Birmingham Historical Society, sponsor

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  stadiums
  • -  baseball
  • -  sports & recreation facilities
  • -  African Americans
  • -  segregation
  • -  recreation
  • -  Alabama--Jefferson County--Birmingham

Latitude / Longitude

  • 33.502631,-86.855662

Notes

  • -  Significance: Erected in 1910, the original concrete and steel grandstand at Rickwood Field is the oldest baseball grandstand on the same site in the United States. The grandstand forms the core of an historic ballpark which includes a 1928 Mission-style entryway and other subsequent additions. Modeled after Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, Rickwood is one of the few grandstands which remain as a testament to the now classic early twentieth-century style of ballpark construction. The stadium was built by local industrialist A.H. "Rick" Woodward, III for his Birmingham Barons baseball club, and was also home to the Birmingham Black Barons, and the Oakland A's farm teams. As a center for leisure-time activity, the field was an important social and cultural institution in this southern industrial city from the 1910s through the 1970s. Playing in the Southern Association and later the Southern League, Birmingham's Minor League franchises won nine pennants during their tenure at Rickwood Field. Each era produced its own memorable games and favorite players for the community at large. Rickwood Field holds a place in the heart for the baseball buff and casual fan alike. In 1920 the Birmingham Black Barons began playing in the Negro Leagues and Rickwood rapidly became the jewel of southern Black baseball. The field served as a central gathering place for Birmingham's Black community as they watched stars like Mules Suttles, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays fine tune the skills that would launch them into stardom. The Black Barons reached the Negro League World Series three times in the 1940s and continued playing at Rickwood -alternating field time with the (white) Barons -until 1963. Like all social institutions in Birmingham prior to 1964 Rickwood remained racially segregated in the stands and on the field. The Barons continued to attract large crowds before folding their club in the face of integration prior to the 1962 season. Integrated professional baseball resumed at Rickwood in 1964 and continued off and on through 1987 when the Birmingham Barons moved to a suburban location. In the 1920s facilities at Rickwood were enlarged with major additions to the grandstand and the construction of a new entryway, as well as the erection of a drop-in scoreboard in left field (no longer extant). Light towers were added in 1936, and in the 1940s new fences were built in the outfield reducing Rickwood's mammoth dimensions and allowing more homeruns. Though no longer home to professional baseball, Rickwood is used by the public schools and recreational leagues for baseball games. Efforts are underway to restore Rickwood to its former grandeur and develop museum facilities on site.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N100
  • -  Survey number: HABS AL-897
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1910 Initial Construction
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 92001826

Medium

  • Photo(s): 28
  • Measured Drawing(s): 22
  • Data Page(s): 58
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS ALA,37-BIRM,5-

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • al0965

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS ALA,37-BIRM,5-
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.
  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Southern Association, Southern League, Birmingham Black Barons, Birmingham Barons, Southeastern Engineering Company, Vankeuren & Denham Denham, et al., Lowe, Jet, photographer. Rickwood Field,Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL. Birmingham Alabama Jefferson County, 1933. translateds by Lavoie, Catherine C.Mitter, and Klugh, Terramitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/al0965/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Southern Association, Southern League, Birmingham Black Barons, Birmingham Barons, Southeastern Engineering Company [...] Birmingham Historical Society, S., Lowe, J., photographer. (1933) Rickwood Field,Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL. Birmingham Alabama Jefferson County, 1933. Lavoie, C. C. M. & Klugh, T., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/al0965/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Lowe, Jet. Rickwood Field,Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL. trans by Lavoie, Catherine C.Mitter, and Klugh, Terramitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/al0965/>.