Hinchliffe, which is owned by the school system, became a source of civic pride. Generations of high school athletes played on its field, and the Thanksgiving Day football game between the city’s rival high schools was revered.

Even Doby, who started his Hall of Fame baseball career by trying out at Hinchliffe, treasured the memories of his high school football days there more, according to his son. “I’d ask my father to tell me stories about baseball, and all he wanted to talk about was football on Thanksgiving Day between Paterson Eastside and Central High School,” Larry Doby Jr. said. He added, “He would talk about how the whole town would show up.”

When the stadium fell into disrepair in the 1990s and closed in 1997, part of Paterson died too. Now the stadium’s rebirth is the centerpiece of a proposal to revitalize Paterson through state tax credits. The $76.7 million project, with $31.4 million allocated to Hinchliffe, includes plans to build housing, a restaurant, a parking garage and the gallery, which the mayor envisions as an East Coast version of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

Remembering the struggles the players faced is especially relevant today, said Raymond Doswell, a vice president for the Kansas City museum. “It’s a shame that there had to be a Negro league in the first place. It’s a tragedy of American history.”