06/05/2026
CLAYTON, NJ’s history is everywhere. While you’re out enjoying your walks ……….look around you………..HAUPT FIELD, located on East Academy and North New Streets, was named for Elizabeth “Nana” HAUPT (1863-1947). Miss HAUPT (Photo 1 & 2) was born on a farm at Hartleton, PA. She was a graduate from the Prickett College of Commerce in Philadelphia and for 2 years attended Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. She also studied at Cornell University and completed a three-year summer course at New York Chautauqua University, at Chautauqua Lake, N. Y. Prior to coming to CLAYTON, she was principal of the Lewis District High School, Union County, PA. Miss HAUPT taught school in CLAYTON for 44 years. Starting as a grade school teacher in 1902, she was named principal when CLAYTON High School came into existence in 1906, with only six pupils. In 1920 she was named Supervising Principal. During Miss HAUPT’s management, the school enrollment grew to a maximum of 330 just before WWII.
HAUPT Field was sold to the CLAYTON Board of Education on February, 1921 by the Estate of John Mayhew Moore for $1,200. The original field ran north to south. In the mid 1930's, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) graded the field and turned it to its present orientation. In 1936 (Photo 3), the new Community Athletic Field had a grand opening with a football game against Pitman High School. The name changed to HAUPT FIELD when Miss HAUPT retired in 1946. It was used for all outdoor sports: football, field hockey, baseball, softball, and track along with physical education classes. Students would walk from the High School on West Academy Street and Aura Road eastward towards the field on East Academy Street and then back again. In 1945, two different committees were formed for special projects at the field. The first committee formed was the World War II Memorial Field House Fund Committee, in order to build boy and girl field houses. The Memorial (Photo 4) was for all Clayton and Franklin Twp. men and women who served in the armed forces during World War II. Remember until October 1960, Franklin Twp. students attended CLAYTON High School; there was no Delsea Regional High School at that time.
The CLAYTON Athletic Club, made-up of CLAYTON and Franklin Twp. veterans and alumni (Photo 5), formed a second committee in the spring of 1947. This was the Light Committee. For the few night time games played on the field, rented lights were brought in on trucks along with large generators. The generators were loud and expensive to run, as gasoline was rationed during and after the war years. Donations of materials, time, and money allowed the lights to be installed by the fall of 1947.
A “Bring Back the Lights at HAUPT Field” committee was formed in 2011 to raise money needed for new lighting in order to restore night games. This project was completed in 2015.
In June 2023, CLAYTON Public School District broke ground on the HAUPT Field Stadium Project. The stadium renovations included ADA accessible bleachers, all-purpose turf field, new stadium parking lot, and a secondary fan entrance off New Street (Photo 6, 7 & 8).~~
