Daisy Stocking Park

Daisy Stocking Park

555 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard

Recognizing health disparities and lack of medical treatment available to the Black community, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Mary McLeod Hospital and Training School for Nurses. In 1916, she asked a fellow South Carolinian and Scotia Seminary alumni – Daisy Hardy (Stocking) - to come to Daytona Beach to supervise the hospital, which she did until 1918, when she married Dr. John Stocking and helped him in his practice. The hospital was located adjacent to the park on the campus of Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute (now Bethune-Cookman University). In 1971, this park was named in honor of Daisy Stocking to recognize her contributions to the Black community during her lifetime.

Over the next 52 years, until her death in 1968, Daisy Hardy Stocking left a legacy through a life of service, including 22 years as chair of the board of directors of Sara Hunt Orphanage, which provided care to children and elderly from 1924 to 1970. She also served on the board of directors of the Community Chest Fund and the United Fund. She organized the Volusia County Tuberculosis Association and the first American Red Cross blood drive in the Black community. During World War II, she chaired the Negro Division War Bond Drive. She received the Chicago Committee of l00's Good American Award in 1963. In 1964 she was inducted into the Methodist Hall of Fame and named Woman of the Year by the National Council of Negro Women. In 2025, she was posthumously awarded the Daughters in American Revolution's Women in American History Award.

The enjoined legacy started by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and Daisy Stocking can grow and expand through new ideas and connections that are created in this important public gathering space, bringing generations together.

Timeline

1888 - Born in Florence, SC

1916 - Moves to Daytona Beach

1916-18 - Supervises Mary McLeod Hospital

WWII - Chairs Negro Division War Bond Drive

1963 - Good American Award by Chicago Committee of 100

1964 - Methodist Hall of Fame & National Council of Negro Women – Woman of the Year

1971 - Daisy Stocking Park Naming

2024 - Multi-million Dollar Park Renovation