In the next installment of Uncommon History, WKMS Morning Edition host Daniel Hurt speaks to local historian J.T. Crawford about Stuart Nelson Park in Paducah. The park served as the community's historically Black community park. It closed last month to prepare for the upcoming construction of the Paducah Sports Park, which will use a portion of Stuart Nelson Park and the former Bluegrass Downs site.
Crawford and Hurt discuss the park's location, history, and namesake, who is one of the most accomplished Paducah natives recognized in the community. Nelson served in World War I and had leadership roles in the local civil rights movement, the nonviolent protest movement, and academia.
Crawford said that, like him, many locals are familiar with the park because of the dog park and sporting events, particularly for softball and baseball. But under the surface, there is a fascinating history that dates back to the 1930s segregation era. "I really knew nothing about Stuart Nelson, which is really a shame," Crawford said. "But the park itself came about because Noble Park was the 'whites only' city park in the early 1900s. You didn't have a place where Black people could go. There was a small park on the South side of Paducah, but it was tiny. Stuart Nelson Park would fulfill that role.
Location for the Park Selected
Crawford said a series of fortunate events came together to allow the park to exist, particularly the New Deal, the domestic policy package under President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. Within his domestic policy, public works projects were built under the Works Progress Administration to generate jobs and invest in massive public infrastructure improvements.
“The WPA was investing money in cities for public infrastructure, and the City Commission in Paducah had already been talking about forming a park for African Americans. And there was a Paducah Colored Civic League that was talking about forming a park as well. So, the discussion was already there,” Crawford said. Then, the money came into play. So, the city had a really interesting space. It was a 55-acre site, just off Hinkleville Road where Stuart Nelson is now.”
The 55-acre lot had previously been the home of the Paducah Pest House, a farm where people with communicable diseases, such as smallpox, lived in shacks and tents until they were no longer contagious. After people began being housed in the nearby Riverside Hospital, the space became open, and the City Commission selected it as the location of Paducah’s Black community park.
“I don't know if you can read a lot into the symbology of them giving that park away. The city was giving a park to the Black community for them to have, but at the same time, the whole thing was just tinged with segregation. As a matter of fact, in 1936, when they opened the park, they had two different grand openings and ceremonies. The first opening was really for the Black community. That was on May 30, 1938. And the Black community came together and enjoyed the park,” said Crawford. “On August 6, 1938, they had another opening, and that's where the City Commission, the mayor, and other people made speeches.”
Notably, Crawford added that Paducah's Mayor Edgar Washington slighted the Black community during his dedication ceremony speech. "He said, 'We want you to keep the park clean, and we know that you will so conduct yourselves at all times that there will never be any reason for Paducah to regret having given you this park.' Have you ever been to a dedication where you heard somebody say, 'Don't make us regret it?' Segregation was such a part of the society at the time that it didn't even escape the dedication of the park."
Who is Stuart Nelson?
Once the city chose a location for the park, the process of naming it began. The Paducah Colored Civic League held a contest for children in Black schools to name it. "Lincoln High School was a part of that," Crawford explained. The winning essay came from Lincoln High School freshman Maddie Pate."
Ms. Pate wrote: "I would like to name the park Stuart Nelson Park for Stuart Nelson, who was a graduate from our school, Lincoln High School. Stuart Nelson is one of the most brilliant young men for the race in America. He was the son of a doctor. He made a lieutenant in the army during the World War. He was the first Negro president of Shaw University."
"He became the first Negro president of Dillard University in New Orleans," Pate continued. "He's now the most outstanding Negro educator in the United States and a native of our city. For due respect, we should name our park and honor such an outstanding man of our race and town."
Stuart Nelson: Civil Rights Leader
Crawford said Nelson's personal history and character made him an obvious choice for a namesake. "He had really climbed up through the educational ranks after he left Paducah. By that time, he was the president of Dillard University in New Orleans. He was very accomplished. That was the winning essay that caused the park to be named Stuart Nelson Park."
"Amazingly, most of his accomplishments came after he had the park named after him," Crawford continued. "He came back for the dedication of the park at the opening — the same opening where the remarks were made by the mayor. But he made several trips to India afterward. He got to know Gandhi. He became a student of the nonviolent resistance movement. He went back and forth with Gandhi several times."
Nelson was also a key player in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s, which Crawford says many people have forgotten about. "There were planned marches on Washington to protest segregation in the federal government, especially with those who were serving in the military," Crawford explained. "You had Black Americans serving in the military, and they were suffering segregation even though they were being compelled to serve. [Nelson] was one of the organizers and people behind that movement."
"That kind of got the ball rolling there," Crawford continued. "That caught the attention of Martin Luther King, Jr. They became friends, and I believe Dr. King was very influenced by Stuart Nelson. In many ways, they were very successful. He ended up writing a lot about Gandhi and his time with him. He wrote an essay on nonviolent non-cooperation, and Dr. King said it was one of the best and most balanced analyses of the Gandhian principles of nonviolent non-cooperation he had ever read. So, Stuart Nelson's influence through the 40s into the 1960s really weighed heavily on the Civil Rights Movement. And here he was from Paducah [with] a park named after him."
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s proved successful in terms of military integration. In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order integrating American armed forces, creating the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the U.S. Military.
"For [Nelson], it all started in Paducah," Crawford said. "There's an oral history that was recorded with Stuart Nelson in 1964. He said one of his lingering memories of Paducah is that when he was a child, he was shining shoes at a barber shop downtown. There was talk in the barbershop about a lynching that had happened at the courthouse. He thought, 'This isn't right. This is something that should not be a part of our normal lives.' Witnessing segregation here is really what led him on to do the things he did later."
"One of his great quotes is, 'Surely, the demand that we love our enemy does place a heavy burden upon the best of men. The fact is that most great moral and religious insights place unwelcome demands upon us. But this is the price of getting rid of the brute in us and exorcising it in others. I am saying that inherent in man is the possibility of rising above the beast which is surely in him,'" Crawford said. "He saw that other people had something inside of them that was good — even those who were pressing segregation down upon African Americans."
Stuart Nelson Park Today
After Stuart Nelson Park was dedicated as a park for the Black community, it became an essential gathering place for recreation, organization, and celebrations like the August 8 celebration. "The first year that it was open for August 8, there was an estimated 5,000 people there celebrating it," Crawford said.
"But one of the biggest things that developed was the softball and baseball games. You had these Black teams that were playing at Stuart Nelson Park, and there were a lot of white teams that wanted to play at Stuart Nelson and play against the Black teams. [The Black teams] couldn't go play anywhere else. But the white teams were traveling and coming to Stuart Nelson Park in order to play softball and baseball.
"The Greenway Trail opened up the park a little bit more," Crawford continued, "because people could access the trail there. The addition of the disc golf course was huge. Of course, with the Sportsplex coming, Stuart Nelson is going to be taken up by part of the Sportsplex complex. That's why it's closed. My hope is that they will find a way to honor Stuart Nelson and keep his memory alive there and keep the history of that segregated park in the forefront of our minds. I think there are ways that can be accomplished."
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