Murphysboro mayor hopes to rename park after 'trailblazer'

MURPHYSBORO, Ill (AP) - Will Stephens has wanted to rename Town Center Park for nearly five years, but he's never been able to settle on who it should be named after. He's decided it should be the namesake of one of the city's most influential Black citizens.

Stephens announced Wednesday on Facebook that he planned to make a motion to rename Town Center Park after Carl Lee, according to the Southern Illinoisan. In his post, Stephens detailed Lee's many accomplishments, including attempting to integrate Murphysboro Township High School in 1916, when he was 18 years old. Lee was also among the first Black graduates from then Southern Illinois Normal University. Stephens described him as a 'œtrailblazer and pathfinder.'ť

'œHe was a person who was undeterred by obstacles. He was a person that believed in hard work and education,'ť Stephens said Wednesday.

Murphysboro Councilman Russell Brown knew Lee both as an educator and a friend.

'œHe was a hell of a teacher,'ť Brown said.

Lee taught English and literature to seventh- and eighth-graders. As he grew up, Brown got to know Lee as a man, too.

'œI saw him as a nice man,'ť Brown said. He remembered Lee buying clothes and shoes for children in his neighborhood whose families couldn't afford them. So tall was Lee in Brown's mind that in 1976 he was one of the driving forces behind establishing Carl Lee Day in the city, something that is still celebrated.

'œHe would be very proud of it,'ť Brown said of how he thinks Lee would feel about having Town Center Park named after him.

That said, though, he felt like Lee's legacy wasn't in any danger of disappearing.

'œHis legacy's going to live on in the Black neighborhood,'ť Brown said.

Stephens said there is already a mural of Lee downtown, but he noted that over time it may fade and be replaced. But, Stephens said he hoped naming the park after Lee would ensure his name is not forgotten.

Stephens said there were other prominent Black Murphysboro residents considered, but he said Lee made the most sense given that the library and a youth center are right next to the park.

Stephens admitted that the decision to rename the park comes at a particularly poignant time in American history.

'œThere's no question that this action is being done in the setting of a larger conversation we are having,'ť he said of the ongoing discussion about the removal of monuments to Confederate soldiers and slave-owners.

He said he's not sentimental about the monuments being taken down, but also added that his decision comes out of a different spirit.

'œI am more interested in building new representations of what America is all about,'ť Stephens said.