The Alonzo Herndon Stadium, located on the west side of Atlanta. The stadium is on the campus of Morris Brown College and was once able to accommodate 15,011 people. Built in 1948, it was the home of many sporting events and concerts in the years before the Olympic Games, including a live Ray Charles album. The historic venue is named after Alonzo Herndon, a successful Atlanta-based businessman who was born enslaved.
During the 1996 Olympics, hosted by Atlanta, the Alonzo Herndon Stadium was used for field hockey. It was also home to the Georgia Mustangs and the Atlanta Beat women’s football club in the defunct WUSA league.
The Alonzo Herndon Stadium was used as a filming location for the 2006 movie, We Are Marshall. As Morris Brown College experienced financial hardships in the 2010s, Herndon Stadium was one of the properties the college sold to counter its debt. Measuring at 68 yards wide by 110 yards long it lies in utter decay Covered in graffiti, vandalized and fenced off from society. As the Morris Brown College fell into hardships the stadium was ultimately forgotten. Nearby a few buildings lay in collapsed decay.
Since 2014 the stadium has been abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair, gutted by vandals and covered in graffiti and trash. It is one block over from the locally known Herndon Home, and sits above the MARTA East-West rail line.
