West End Park
Smithville, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
West End Park in Smithville, located 200 yards west, was one of the last Texas stops on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a string of performance venues in the south that served as safe and accepting spaces for African American performers. “Chitlin’ Circuit” refers to the Chitlins and soul food dishes that clubs often sold, although the clubs were also referred to as the One-Nighter Circuit or the Theatrical Circuit. West End Park was owned by I.T. Harper, a former pitcher for the Kansas City monarchs in the Negro Leagues, and his wife, Sis. In the racially segregated Jim Crow south, this was an important venue from the early 1900s until the 1960s for many African American musicians excluded from white venues. The surrounding park was a location for many events and gatherings in the African American community, the majority of whom mainly lived on the south side of the railroad tracks in Smithville. The baseball field at the park was used for Negro Leagues Baseball, and long-time residents recall watching legendary Negro Leagues players such as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in exhibition games against the Smithville team. When not arranged as a baseball field, local families used West End Park as gathering places for church picnics, holiday celebrations, and family reunions for the African American community. As the Chitlin’ Circuit was a significant part of many notable performers’ careers, renowned jazz and blues artists such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Etta James, Joe Tex, T-Bone Walker, Roosevelt Thomas Williams (aka. The “Grey Ghost”), and Hannibal Lokumbe (Marvin Peterson) played at the local venue. In 2009, the governor’s office issued a proclamation recognizing West End Park’s significance to Bastrop County and Texas. (2010)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the segregated Jim Crow South, West End Park was one of the last Texas stops on the "Chitlin' Circuit" — the network of venues that offered Black performers safe, welcoming stages when white clubs were closed to them. Owned by former Negro Leagues pitcher I.T. Harper and his wife Sis, the park hosted jazz and blues greats like Etta James, T-Bone Walker, and Lightnin' Hopkins, while its baseball field drew exhibition games featuring Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. Between shows it served the community for church picnics, holidays, and family reunions.
Why it matters
Places like West End Park kept African American music, sport, and community life thriving under segregation, nurturing careers and traditions that shaped the whole of American culture.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the era of Jim Crow, the American South was carved by law and custom into two unequal worlds. Public life — theaters, ballfields, restaurants, hotels — was segregated, and Black Americans were shut out of the spaces where white audiences gathered. So they built their own, and made them extraordinary.
Smithville, in Bastrop County, was a railroad town, and like many such towns the tracks marked the color line. Most of the community's Black families lived on the south side of the rails, and it was there that their gathering places, worship, music, and sport took root.
Out of this necessity grew one of the most vital cultural networks in American history: a chain of venues across the South, later remembered as the "Chitlin' Circuit," where Black performers could play to welcoming crowds when the doors of white clubs were closed to them. West End Park was one of its last Texas stops.
People & events
West End Park belonged to I.T. Harper and his wife, Sis. Harper had been a pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the great teams of Negro Leagues baseball, and he brought that world home with him. From the early 1900s into the 1960s, the park he ran became a haven for Black musicians and athletes alike.
The circuit's nickname came from the chitlins and soul food the clubs often sold, though people also called it the One-Nighter Circuit or the Theatrical Circuit. Onto West End Park's stage came some of the most storied names in blues and jazz — Lightnin' Hopkins, Etta James, Joe Tex, T-Bone Walker, Roosevelt Thomas Williams known as the "Grey Ghost," and Hannibal Lokumbe. For many performers, nights on this circuit were where careers were forged.
The park's baseball diamond had its own legends. Longtime residents recall watching exhibition games in which giants of the Negro Leagues — Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson among them — played against the local Smithville team. Those memories come down as community oral tradition, treasured stories passed from one generation to the next. And when the field wasn't laid out for a game, families claimed the grounds for church picnics, holiday celebrations, and reunions.
Its place in the American story
Places like West End Park did far more than fill an evening. Under segregation, they kept Black music, sport, and community life not merely alive but flourishing — and what flourished there reshaped the whole of American culture.
The blues and jazz born and refined on circuits like this one became the taproot of American popular music, feeding into rhythm and blues, soul, and rock and roll. The performers who honed their craft in modest parks and clubs went on to change what the entire country listened to. Negro Leagues baseball, likewise, produced players whose talent finally forced the integration of the national pastime.
In 2009 the governor's office issued a proclamation recognizing West End Park's significance to Bastrop County and to Texas. It stands for hundreds of such places across the South — proof that a community denied the front door will build something remarkable through its own.
If you visit
The marker sits just east of the park grounds, about 200 yards from where the stage and ballfield once drew crowds. As you stand here, picture a summer night: a band setting up, families spreading out picnics, the crack of a bat from an afternoon exhibition game still hanging in the air.
Take note of the railroad running through Smithville. That line was the town's color line, and knowing it changes how you see the neighborhood — this was a place the community made entirely its own, on its own side of the tracks.
It's a moving stop on any trip through the small towns east of Austin, especially for anyone who loves American music or baseball history. Come with a little imagination and a lot of respect, and let the ordinary-looking ground remind you of the extraordinary talent and joy it once held.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · I.T. Harper
- · Satchel Paige
- · Josh Gibson
- · Etta James
- · Lightnin' Hopkins
- · T-Bone Walker
Themes & tags
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