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In 1954, the city of Austin relocated Downs Field here from its original location at 12th Street and Springdale Road where it was constructed in 1949 as a “separate but equal” alternative to Disch Field. Downs Field has been used by the Austin Black Pioneers, Greyhounds, and Indians, and remains the home field of Huston-Tillotson University. It was named for Rev. Karl Downs (1912-1948), influential president of Samuel Huston College from 1943 until his untimely death in 1948. The baseball field and wooden grandstands were built at this site which had been home to African American athletics for decades prior. The site was donated to Samuel Huston College, a college for African Americans, in 1914, and used for its baseball stadium beginning in the late 1920s. It was also home to the Austin Black Senators, a semi-professional baseball team. The Austin Black Senators played other Texas Negro League teams as well as African American college, barnstorming, and out-of-state teams here and on the road. In December 1938, the site was sold to Austin public schools and converted into a football field and stadium for L.C. Anderson High School, the only high school for African Americans during segregation. It is here that L.C. Anderson High School won the 1942 Prairie View Interscholastic League state championship and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick “Night Train” Lane played. For more than a century, the site has been a significant part of the cultural and sporting history of Austin, and a field of memorable games and moments by athletes of local, state and national renown. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2015 |
