When the first oil gusher was discovered in December of 1920, the Oil Boom Era of Mexia began. Lots of changes occurred rapidly during the Boom.  Mexia even had a semi-pro baseball team, the Mexia Oilers....and if you have a team, you have to have a field for them to play on.

A baseball stadium was constructed of steel and wood, located at the junction of South McKinney and Travis Streets, where South McKinney Baptist Church is now located.

After several years, the Boom began to fade and so did the fortunes of Mexia......then In October of 1929, The Great Depression hit.  The ball team was defunct and the baseball stadium was a derelict relic of better times.

A new Superintendent of Schools , R.M. Hawkins, moved to town in 1930.  He was young for a Supt, and he was a "mover and a shaker". Due to his efforts, the old baseball stadium was disassembled and moved about a quarter-mile east to a location just north of the present-day Rodeo Arena. Now Mexia had a football stadium!

The stadium was reassembled with straight bleacher rows instead of the typical baseball stadium V-shape, and the shed-type roof was retained.  For many years, the new football stadium was known as "Hawkins Field".  By the the 1960's, it was renamed "Blackcat Field".

When the new high school was occupied in 1968, part of the plan was to re-locate the stadium to a place adjacent to the new school.  Thus in the 1970's, the stadium was once again disassembled and rebuilt on the north side of town on the school campus.

In the years since, "Blackcat Field" has seen many improvements. The press box was repainted, the old field house was redeveloped, and a new new field house was built, and in 2018, turf was installed.  Regardless of all the improvements it still stands out as one of the most unique stadiums in Texas High School Football.

Story Per- Cox Robert Crider