Established in 1907 and named after the Phelans,
a prominent Birmingham family, the park was built up as part of a
Works Progress Administration project in the late 1930s. The WPA was
a New Deal program designed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to
give work to needy Americans and pull the United States out of the
Great Depression. The exterior rock walls around Phelan Park were
constructed then and remain standing in tribute to the historical
significance of the area, said Lee Nixon, carpenter foreman for A.G.
Gaston Construction Co. "We had one of the WPA workers come by here and he was worried that we were
going to tear his wall down,'' Nixon said. 'He said he built it during WPA
days. We told him we were going to leave it up.''' -- From "Recovering
Addicts Help Renovate Former Hangout," The Birmingham
News (April 20, 1994)