When purchase of this 6-acre property was proposed in 1924, the name initially proposed for it was Vol Walker Field, in honor of Volney Walker, a state representative who had recently battled legislators from other parts of the state to keep the agricultural college of the University of Arkansas from being moved to central Arkansas.
The land was sold to the school district by two university professors, Noah Drake and Giles Ripley.
There may have been a grant from the national Harmon Foundation that helped in purchase or development of the field and led to the naming.
Ground was broken in 1925 for construction of a playing field, and the first football game was played in 1927.
In the fall of 1955, the South’s first integrated high school football team, the Fayetteville Bulldogs, played at this field. Some of Fayetteville’s opponents refused to play the team because it had integrated and instead forfeited their games.
Today, the Fayetteville High School football field and baseball field as well as athletic offices and training facilities are still on the site. The track has been moved to the school property on Old Farmington Road.