Town of Grifton, NC

Town of Grifton
528 Queen Street
P.O. Box 579
Grifton, NC 28530
(252) 524-5168

Mattie's Minipark Timeline
by Janet Haseley
(Information compiled 1985 and edited 1998 and 2003)

1970: Grifton Resources Improvement Program (GRIP), a community coordinating council that encouraged cross-organizational efforts for community improvement from 1968 to about 1978, conceived and planned the first Grit ton Shad Festival for April 1971 and a pre-festival town clean-up in March with all organizations and many individuals working together.

Spring 1971: Jean Williams coordinated the first Clean-Up Grifton campaign and recruited senior citizen and life-long leader of the black community Mattie Dixon to help find clean-up workers for the Main and Water Streets section of town.-

March 1971: In conversations with other clean-up workers, Mattie Dixon said there was nowhere in her community for children to play, and a vacant lot on Main and Gordon Streets was always littered with trash and broken bottles.

Spring & Summer 1971: Janet Haseley reported Mattie’s suggestion at a GRIP meeting and other community leaders volunteered to help develop a minipark. Mayor Dave Bosley put into effect the paperwork involved in getting permission from the railroad to allow use of their part of the property. Jean Williams, owner of the other part of the property, gave permission for it to be used for a park. Janet Haseley named it “Mattie’s Minipark” and recruited Wiley Gaskins to help.

October 1971: Wiley Gaskins donated heavy machinery and labor to remove an old foundation and bulldoze undergrowth and level the lot.

Fall 1971 and Spring 1972: Junior Girl Scout Troop 222 worked on cleaning up, raking, picking up glass, etc. after the bulldozers finished the heaviest work.

Spring 1972: The Garden Club donated $50 toward a fence between the park and the railroad track. Minipark neighbors collected $25 to finish paying for fencing materials. Rev. William Brown of the Ministerial Association undertook coordinating responsibility to work with Minipark neighbors Leo Nobles, Luke Miller, Earl Griffin and others to install the fence.

Summer 1972: Grifton Recreation Commission included cost of swing set and basketball goal in Town Recreation budgeting.

Summer 1972: Mr. Brown, Minipark neighbors and others erected the new swing set and basketball goal. Henry Oglesby donated a picnic table.

Several years later: When teenager Jerry Griffin drowned in Contentnea Creek, Minipark neighbors and others collected funds in his memory to pave the basketball pad with concrete.

1983: Jean Williams again coordinated the Clean-Up Grifton campaign (sponsored then by the Chamber of Commerce) and recruited Billy Kornegay to take responsibility for upkeep and beautification of the Minipark. He recruited neighbors and formed a “Mattie’s Minipark Improvement Association” to help. They planted flowers and trees, put out trash barrels, benches, tables and a grill.

1985: Grifton Recreation Commission added the Minipark as one of the specific areas of town recreation to be represented on the Recreation Commission to supplement Team Sports, Tennis, Summer Recreation Program and Town Park. Billy Kornegay was appointed to the Grifton Recreation Commission with major responsibility for the Minipark. He identified people to build the brick sign in 1985 on which the letters “Mattie’s Minipark” were installed. Carr Tucker, vice chair of the Recreation Commission, worked with Billy and the Town of Grifton to get the sign built. He ordered the letters and coordinated plans for a dedication ceremony.

1985: Dedication ceremony for the new sign was held, honoring Mattie Dixon.

1999-2000: After the floodwaters from Hurricane Floyd destroyed most of the equipment at Mattie’s Minipark, the Town of Grifton, with guidance from the Grifton Park Committee and several donations of actual funding, materials, and labor from UNC School of Nursing, the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, Mr. Johnny Moore, and NC Baptist Men, the Town was able to rebuild the park. On Sunday, September 17, 2000 (one year after Hurricane Floyd), the Town held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the park to celebrate the renovations.

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