In the southeast part of Fayetteville, behind the Washington County Historic Courthouse in the valley below Mount Sequoyah, people have a new place to gather. The area is home to the city's historic Black community and recently gained more dedicated green space as Ralph "Buddy" Hayes Park opened last week to the sounds of music, laughter and recalled memories.
Alison Jumper is Fayetteville's director of Parks, Natural Resources and Cultural Affairs. She says the park has been a multiyear process.
"It's just been an open green space with no amenities there to really draw people in or to make it very usable. So we saw the opportunity, when we did the YRCC expansion, to go ahead and make improvements to this park so that this neighborhood really has kind of a neighborhood hub, so that they can come here and gather."
The roughly half-acre park sits across the street from the Yvonne Richardson Community Center, with Spout Spring Branch flowing through it. Mayor Molly Rawn spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony and says the park is overdue recognition for Hayes, who residents once called the "Mayor of Dickson Street."
"Which I thought was a fitting nickname. The Fayetteville that Buddy lived in looks quite different, I'm certain, from the Fayetteville of today. But I hope that the biggest change that he would remark upon is our move to be closer and more equitable to all of our neighbors."
Hayes was a veteran, a musician and a beloved figure in Fayetteville's Black community. During times of racial segregation, he resided, as did almost all of Fayetteville's Black population in the early 20th century, in the historic southeast neighborhood known as "The Hollow," in which the park now sits.
Hayes worked at the University of Arkansas barber shop shining shoes, according to "The Historic Black Community of Southeast Fayetteville Historic Context Statement." Hayes spent his downtime playing piano in the back room of the shop. By 1944, Hayes had formed the Buddy Hayes Orchestra and was in high demand for community events, and was also a regular performer at local clubs. His style was known as jump blues, featuring horn instruments and generally an up-tempo sound. He performed with the orchestra until at least the early 1950s and earned the nickname "Mayor of Dickson Street," which is a hub of live music for Northwest Arkansas.
To this day, Rawn says this new park is an attempt by Fayetteville to properly memorialize Hayes' legacy.
"This was the area of Fayetteville he came from. His funeral was held right up the road at the historic St. James, and he is buried not far from here in our national cemetery. The city of Fayetteville did not honor him the way we should have. I hope that we can repay some of that today through this park. Parks are gathering places where neighbors become friends and where families make memories. Naming this space in his honor ensures that his legacy remains a part of Fayetteville for generations to come."
His youngest daughter, Charlotte, was in attendance at the ceremony and says her dad would have been proud.
"Oh, he'd be happy about this. He'd be ecstatic."
What about it specifically — the music, the nature?
"No, just the recognition, you know, to be recognized as a Black musician in Arkansas, especially Fayetteville, Arkansas. Back when he was, you know, a musician, everything was segregated. The country club — Blacks couldn't go there. He could play there, but Blacks couldn't go there. So it's totally different now, where, you know, Blacks are everywhere. So he would love this. He really would."
She agrees with Rawn that the historic area is unrecognizable. Fewer Black residents live there now, in part because integration meant they no longer had to.
"We didn't get integrated until we were getting ready to go to the sixth grade. And then, you know, everything exploded. Like, you know, more Blacks started moving in. So it's totally different. It's really totally different. And our community is smaller, you know. But other than that, yeah, the Black community — the Black community is small. Yes, for us original people that live here, that grew up here. People just move away. Well, some moved away, you know. Some, the older ones, died out. And that's just how it goes. Progress."
You can visit Ralph "Buddy" Hayes Park now. Just go to fayetteville-ar.gov for more information. And if you're interested in the history of the historic Black community of Fayetteville, you can read the full historic context statement, which covers the area from pre-settlement times to the modern day.
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