Independence Park is a large open space in Charlotte's lovely and fashionable Elizabeth neighborhood, the city's oldest "streetcar suburb", located to the east of Uptown Charlotte, the city's central business district.
The park itself was originally constructed in 1905 and has since undergone numerous additions, including this small, beautiful stone baseball stadium which was a project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930's.
The stadium sits in a natural bowl in the park's eastern end, across Charlottetowne Avenue from the 21,000-capacity American Legion Memorial Stadium, another WPA project which until the construction of the 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium in Third Ward, home to the NFL's Carolina Panthers, was Charlotte's largest stadium.
Like -- but infinitely nicer than -- the previously discussed Winterfield Stadium in Eastland, Independence Park Stadium is next to an elementary school, in this case Elizabeth Traditional School, one of the oldest in Charlotte dating back to 1912. Though like Winterfield, Elizabeth does not use the stadium for anything other than recess and physical education.
However, IPS does have a tenant in the form of one of Charlotte's legion ball teams, Charlotte Post 9 actually won the American Legion national baseball championship in 1965, an honor they were beaten to by neighboring Gastonia, who were champions in 1935, and near-by Albemarle and Shelby, in 1940 and 1945 respectively.
One particularly interesting feature of the ground is what I can only assume to be the original dugouts, the concrete floors appear to have been added at a much later date which would explain their unusually small size and lack of a bench. These dugouts have since been replaced by extremely unremarkable, utilitarian dugouts which resemble tool sheds.
To focus solely on the baseball stadium while neglecting the park itself would be almost sinful, so I spent sometime walking around the park, which I, having grown up in neighboring Chantilly, visited several times in my youth (that sounds ridiculous considering I'm 26) without giving a second thought to its outstanding natural, and man-made beauty.
My mother attended the aforementioned Elizabeth Traditional as a child and has very fond memories of this wading pool, which isn't used for that these days. The pool is in the same wonderful stone style as the stadium and rest of the park and actually serves as a memorial to Lillian Arhelger, a physical education teacher from Charlotte's Central High School -- the physical plant of which is now part of Central Piedmont Community College, while the school's records and student body population were transferred to Garinger (my alma mater), in the east Charlotte neighborhood of Shamrock, in 1959 -- who tragically died while trying to save the life of a child who'd fallen over the Glen Burnie Falls in western North Carolina on June 21, 1931.
Above the memorial is the very small Hawthrone Recreation Center, named for its location on Hawthorne Lane, which can be configured to host events like basketball or volleyball in a very small arena-type set up, or plays and musical performances in an auditorium configuration through the use of a stage on the facilities' eastern end.
Across Hawthorne Lane the park turns into small paradise for walkers and cyclists with long, undulating sidewalks set between a vast common area full of towering oaks and magnolias known as Sifford Gardens, named to honor Ernest J. Sifford who served 31 years on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Parks & Recreation Commission.
Gazebos like this are very common throughout the park and add a degree of character, as well as providing the invaluable resource of shade during Charlotte's notoriously brutal summer months.
The western end of the park features a remarkable rose garden, a popular site for weddings, which in all honesty looks much better when it hasn't been the victim of months of repressive heat.
Independence Park is one of my favorite places in what is my favorite neighborhood in Charlotte. The park provides both a necessary resource for recreation and relaxation as well as a source of pride for both Charlotte and Elizabeth. For more pictures click here.
Name: Independence Park Stadium
Location: Elizabeth, Charlotte, North Carolina
Tenants: American Legion baseball
Capacity: ~550
Finished: circa 1934Pros: Just about everything. Well served by public transit, in addition to being on a public bike route (Clt 9). Located in one of North Carolina's best public parks, and Charlotte's best neighborhood.
Cons: Summer heat would be annoying, but really that's just nitpicking what is a wonderful little place.
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