Name: Jennie Jaynes Stadium Historic Marker Ceremony
Start: 2025-10-02T17:30:00-05:00
Location: Sedalia Heckart Community Center Lobby

Jennie Jaynes Stadium Historic Marker Ceremony

Historic Marker to Honor Jennie Jaynes Stadium
The City of Sedalia will honor the legacy of Jennie Jaynes Stadium with the unveiling of a historic marker on Thursday, October 2, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. at the Heckart Community Center lobby entrance. The public is invited to attend the ceremony, which is being hosted by the City of Sedalia’s Historic Preservation Commission in partnership with Sedalia Parks and Recreation.
The marker commemorates the stadium that stood on the site from 1953 until 2015, when it was demolished to make way for the Heckart Community Center. Built of concrete and steel with a seating capacity of 3,000, the stadium was the center of Sedalia’s high school athletics for more than 60 years. Generations of students competed on its field, while friends and family members packed the stands to cheer on their victories and console them in their defeats.
Among the many athletes and coaches remembered for their contributions at Jennie Jaynes Stadium are Charles Van Dyne, who supervised the construction of the facility before playing football at the University of Missouri and later for the Buffalo Bisons; Coach Ralph “Stub” Dow, who led Smith-Cotton’s football team from 1945 to 1959; and a long list of athletes including Norris Kelley, Kelli Lowman Tosti, Leonard Butler, Jim and John Johnson, Jennifer Drum McClaflin, Bruce Kerr, Joseph Arbisi, Warren Dey, Dr. Earl Finley, Steve Stonecipher-Fisher, Wesley Scott Swain, Tom Munson, Mike Riley, and Solomon Watkins. While these names stand out, city officials emphasize that the stadium’s true legacy lies in the thousands of students who played there and in the families and community members who made the stands a place of spirited support for more than six decades.
The stadium was named for Jennie Jaynes Lewis, the daughter of Colonel A.D. Jaynes, a founder of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway. Although she married and moved to St. Louis in 1896, she always considered Sedalia her home. In her will, she established that her estate should be used for “the educational and recreational improvement of the young people” of the community. That vision has shaped opportunities for Sedalia youth for generations.
City officials note that Jennie Jaynes Stadium was more than a sports venue; it was a gathering place where community pride came alive. The new historic marker will serve as a permanent reminder of the stadium’s role in Sedalia’s history and as a tribute to the woman whose generosity helped make it possible.
The unveiling ceremony is open to the public, and all are encouraged to attend and celebrate the rich history of a stadium that left a lasting imprint on Sedalia.