A Partnership to Preserve History
By Jessica Reyes
Years of deterioration passed, with tall grass left untrimmed and weeds growing where people once gathered for boxing matches, baseball games and graduations. It remained closed for almost three decades and became a stadium desolate of any life.
Today, it has been a little over a year since Hinchliffe Stadium, one of two stadiums where the Negro Leagues played—a league that featured baseball greats like Larry Doby—was rebuilt, renovated, and restored.
Planks of wood, buckets of paint, gravel and debris are pictured here on February 2023—just months before the official reopening.
But like Rome, Hinchliffe Stadium wasn’t rebuilt in a day.
The developers who would form a partnership to tackle this project recognized the monumental scope of its reconstruction. The scale of the restoration did not intimidate them; instead, they recognized the importance of rebuilding a stadium with deep historical roots that was in desperate need of preservation. RPM Development partnered with co-developer Baye Adofo Wilson, founder of BAW Development.
BAW Development, owned by Baye Adofo Wilson, focuses on urban community development, sustainable solutions, and historic preservation. Paterson, being one of those urban communities, needed a village to come together and restore the stadium to revitalize the city.
A mural that was hand painted on the outside of the stadium prior to its reconstruction reads ‘Make each day your masterpiece.’
The new neighborhood restoration, a $103 million dollar project, features 7,800 seats, a history center and exhibition space, senior housing, a preschool facility, and community parking.
Carolyn Byrd, a Paterson native known as 'House Mother' in Paterson’s house music scene, grew up in the city during the 1980s. Her eyes widened when asked about the newly renovated stadium, and she said, “It’s nothing like it used to look. I graduated in that stadium. When I heard it was renovated and they held a soccer game there, I was glued to the TV. I could not believe it was redone.”
Since its grand opening in May 2023, the New Jersey Jackals, an independent professional baseball team based in Paterson, whose home stadium was Yogi Berra Stadium at Montclair State University until 2022, has made Hinchliffe Stadium its new home.
Hinchliffe Stadium’s new scoreboard shows the NJ Jackals vs. the New York Boulders. Courtesy of @hinchliffestadium Instagram.
Baseball is certainly in full swing at Hinchliffe, yet other events are also on the horizon for the stadium.
One of those events being the city’s yearly National Night Out. Director of Community Engagement, Della McCall, says, “Being able to invite our residents to come, walk, drive-- whatever it takes to get there, but just collaborating together and having one great party; I’m excited about that.”
The stadium is also preparing to host the Hinchliffe Classic, a football game featuring two prominent universities close to Paterson. On Saturday, October 26th, gates will open at 10 a.m., with kickoff at 12 p.m., as the Montclair State University Red Hawks take on the William Paterson Pioneers.
Also, to honor Paterson Poetry Month, which is officially October this year, Talena Queen, Chair of the Art Commission in Paterson, mentions two events that will take place at Hinchliffe in the Charles J. Muth Museum. “It's going to be a baseball-themed workshop that will end with a performance; we’ll be teaching participants how to perform the things they create in that workshop,” she said.
She also spoke about what the renovation means for the city of Paterson and its residents: “In the far future, we hope there is no venue large enough, except the stadium, to hold all the people who will be coming to Paterson for Poetry Month. That’s what I hope happens. This is very, very big for Paterson.”
