Felton Little Park

Felton Little Park
Former names Auburn City Park (1949–1955)
Location 341 East Glenn Avenue
Auburn, Alabama, United States
Coordinates 32°36′38″N 85°28′37″W / 32.61056°N 85.47694°W / 32.61056; -85.47694Coordinates: 32°36′38″N 85°28′37″W / 32.61056°N 85.47694°W / 32.61056; -85.47694
Owner City of Auburn
Operator City of Auburn
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 1949
Opened September 30, 1949
Renovated 2003
Closed October 4, 1968
Tenants
Auburn High School Tigers (AHSAA) (1949–1968)

Felton Little Park (originally Auburn City Park) is a municipal park in Auburn, Alabama, United States. Felton Little Park is the oldest park in Auburn. From 1949 until 1968, the park was the home stadium of the Auburn High School Tigers football team, and from 1949 through 1967, the Auburn High School baseball team.[1] Today, Felton Little Park has three softball fields for youth leagues. The park is named for Felton Little, an Auburn city councilman who donated the land for the park.[2]

History

In the late 1940s the city of Auburn decided that the town needed a centrally-located park and football and baseball facilities for Auburn High School, which had previously been playing home matches at nearby Auburn University. The nearest property suitable for such a park to downtown was owned by Felton Little, who donated the land to the city in September 1947.[3] On September 30, 1949, the park was dedicated as Auburn City Park as the Auburn High football team played Tuskegee High School. As the football field was equipped with outdoor lights, this was the first night football game to be played in Auburn.[4]

In 1955, the park was renamed "Felton Little Park" after its benefactor. In 1967, the Auburn High baseball team moved from the park to a new facility on the high school campus (today Sam Welborn Field), and on October 4, 1968 the football team played its final game at Felton Little before inaugurating its new stadium, Duck Samford Stadium. In the early 1970s, the park was converted to house three youth-league baseball fields, and in 2003 the park underwent a major renovation which converted the three fields to softball fields.[5]

Records

Auburn High School's football team played 20 seasons at Felton Little, compiling a 42–42–8 record.[6]

References

  1. Lee County Bulletin, September 28, 1949; Lee County Bulletin, October 2, 1968; Minutes of City Board of Education, Auburn, Alabama, February 1967.
  2. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama Official and Statistical Register, (Montgomery, Ala.: State of Alabama, 1931), 303.
  3. "Eight Acres Is Given City For Park By Little Heirs", Lee County Bulletin, September 4, 1947.
  4. Lee County Bulletin, September 28, 1949.
  5. Auburn and Opelika Tourism Bureau, Auburn-Opelika Sporting Facilities Guide (2006), 2; Lee County Bulletin, October 2, 1968.
  6. AHSFHS.org, Auburn Yearly Record, retrieved August 16, 2008.

See also

Preceded by
Auburn Stadium
Home of the
Auburn High School Tigers

1949 — 1968
Succeeded by
Duck Samford Stadium
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