Underwood Park Association
Papers, 1905-1956
AR 0057

Overview

The Underwood Park Association was a group of residents and citizens of Birmingham concerned with the establishment of the Oscar W. Underwood Park located adjacent to the Lakeview School between Twenty Seventh and Twenty-Eighth Streets South, Clairmont Avenue, and Ninth Court South. Mrs. Thomas Granville Brabston was chairman of the Underwood Park Association and coordinated fundraising efforts and maintenance of the park. The development of the park followed the 1924 development of A Park System for Birmingham by the Olmsted Brothers and was viewed by many as the first link in that system. Plans for the park included tennis and basketball courts, baseball diamond, running track, shelter house, flagstone walks, and commemorative gate. Plans for the park were designed by Kessler & Schillinger, Landscape Architects. Today, most of the park is occupied by St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Scope and Content

The Underwood Park Association’s papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, membership and contributor lists, and blueprints. The 159 items in the papers relate to the establishment, dedication, maintenance, and funding of Oscar W. Underwood Park. Blueprints and drawings in the papers include a shelter house attributed to Charles H. McCauley, a lighting plan attributed to Birmingham Electric Company, and a drawing of the commemorative gate attributed to Kessler & Schillinger with Warren Knight & Davis.



Sources

“Underwood Park Development Viewed As First Link In Big System,” Birmingham News, 2 April 1922. File #57.1.4.1.8. Underwood Park Association Collection. Birmingham Public Library. Department of Archives and Manuscripts.