Spartanburg’s Historic Duncan Park Stadium added to the National Register of Historic Places
March 24, 2016
SPARTANBURG, SC – For nearly 90 years, Duncan Park Stadium has been an important local landmark in the Spartanburg community. Now, it has officially become a historic landmark through the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places as part of the stadium’s restoration, through the collaborative efforts of the City of Spartanburg, McMillan Pazdan Smith and Spartanburg School District 7 for use as the home field for Spartanburg High School baseball teams.
The stadium’s eligibility for National Historic Register was primarily based on its use as a recreation center and sports facility by the people of the community. Important community events were held there, from Fourth of July celebrations and beauty pageants to a 1943 homecoming for Spartanburg native James F. Byrnes, the National Director of War Mobilization at the time and future governor of South Carolina.
For the majority of its history, the stadium was home to minor league teams, textile teams, and American Legion teams. More recently, it has served as a venue for local schools like Wofford College and the University of South Carolina Upstate, as well as several wooden-bat collegiate summer league teams.
The largest crowds at Duncan Park were for American Legion baseball. A record setting 21,000 fans packed the grandstands and sideline bleachers for the championship game on September 5, 1936. The following year, the 1937 New York Yankees team stopped to play an exhibition game on their way home from spring training, entertaining large crowds with future hall of famers including Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey.
Designed by noted Spartanburg architect J. Frank Collins, this facility was the pre-eminent baseball park in the state of South Carolina when first constructed in 1926 and remains an active baseball stadium to the present day. Although there have been alterations to the seating and outfield wall during the life of the stadium, the grandstand, roof structure and playing field remain intact.
Much of the existing seating has been restored as part of the renovations, including 582 wooden seats from Philadelphia’s legendary Shibe Park installed in 1971. Duncan Park was home of a Philadelphia Phillies minor league affiliate from 1963 to 1994 and received the seats because of that association.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.
About McMillan Pazdan Smith
McMillan Pazdan Smith is a regional, studio-based design firm specializing in master planning, architecture and interior design services. Office locations include Charleston, Greenville, and Spartanburg, SC; Atlanta, GA; and Asheville and Charlotte, NC. In 2015, McMillan Pazdan Smith ranked #33 on Architect Magazine’s ARCHITECT 50 list of best U.S. architecture firms in the Business Category and #13 in the nation on Zweig Group’s 2015 Best Firms to Work For list.
