Durkee, Joseph H., Athletic Field

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Joseph H. Durkee Athletic Field is a baseball grandstand at 1701 Myrtle Ave. in Jacksonville, Duval County. It began in 1912 as Barrs Field, and took its present masonry vernacular form, with Prairie Style influence, when a steel and brick grandstand went up in 1935 and was enlarged west in 1937.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A, B, C and D, with local-level significance in Black ethnic heritage, entertainment and recreation, and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1912 to 1964, spanning the 1912 construction of Barrs Field to the last college football game held there in 1964.

Physical character

The grandstand has a stone foundation, brick walls, steel framing and a metal roof, with arched ticket windows and a bay window. Architects Marsh & Saxelbye and builder S.S. Jacobs Company added a steel and brick wing to the west side in 1937, and a 1980 renovation updated the seats and roof. A separate lobby was built for African American patrons.

Historical context

The city acquired the field and renamed it for Durkee in 1926. The Jacksonville Tars became a farm team of the New York Giants by 1938, and the Jacksonville Braves broke the Sally League's color line in 1953.