Marker commemorates history of Arkadelphia's Feaster Park -

The history of a popular Arkadelphia park and trail’s namesake is now on display for citizens who visit Feaster Park.

The park and Feaster Trail are named after Dr. W.D. and Ida Feaster, notable Black civic leaders and educators in Arkadelphia during the 20th century.

On Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, an Arkansas Heritage marker honoring the Feasters was unveiled on North 23rd Street. The event drew a crowd of some 60 people — most of them Peake High School alumni in town for the three-day annual school reunion.

Ida Feaster’s descendants — great-nieces Gloria Roberts Fallin and Vera Roberts — were also in attendance for Friday’s unveiling of the marker.

Pictured before the W.D. and Ida Feaster marker, from left, are Phyllis Crite McClure, Gloria Roberts Fallin, Toni Fallin Walters and Vera Roberts. Fallin and Roberts are the great-nieces of Ida Feaster.

The Feasters moved to Arkansas from South Carolina in 1906; W.D. Feaster was a minister and professor serving a Presbyterian church and leading its affiliated Arkadelphia Presbyterian Academy, where Ida Feaster taught. The marker lauds the Feasters for “modernizing the Academy, reforming its curriculum, expanding its facilities, growing its enrollment and bringing the school acclaim within the denomination.”

Following W.D. Feaster’s death and the consolidation of the Academy, Ida Feaster remained a part of the Arkadelphia community. During segregation, part of her property served as a community park for African Americans to recreate, play baseball or hold family reunions. Feaster sold the 67.6 acres to the City of Arkadelphia in 1976, when the land was established as a city park named after the Feasters. Ida Feaster died in 1979 at the age of 98.

Feaster Park includes baseball fields, basketball courts, a skateboard park and playground equipment. The Arkadelphia Recreation Center, Aquatic Park, Community Family Enrichment Center and a portion of the city’s 2.7-mile Feaster Trail all sit on the Feaster land.

Friday’s unveiling also included a dedication ceremony held at the Community Family Enrichment Center, where attendees heard remarks from Dr. Patricia Wright, former president of the PHS Alumni Foundation, and Arkadelphia City Manager Gary Brinkley, as well as Peake alumni Ida Tramble and Quranner “Q” Cotledge.