Carthage council OKs grants for baseball stadium, Boots Court

Dec. 13—CARTHAGE, Mo. — The new baseball stadium planned for Carthage High School will have a name that remembers a former city-owned hospital thanks to a grant approved Tuesday by the Carthage City Council.

After some debate, the council voted 6-3 with one person absent to OK a proposal from the McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital Trust Board to give the Carthage School District $300,000 in three annual $100,000 increments to build the baseball stadium on the high school campus.

The council also voted 8-1 to OK another McCune-Brooks trust grant, one for $120,000 in three yearly $40,000 payments to the Boots Court Foundation to create a public green space at what now is the new visitors center on the corner of Garrison Avenue and Olive Street.

Council members David Armstrong, Tiffany Cossey and Robin Blair voted "no" on the grant to the school district. Cossey was the lone "no" vote on the grant for the Boots Court.

They all said they supported both donations but wanted to see more specifics as to what the money will be spent for in both cases.

"In my opinion, the purpose of the money is not just to grant money to a not-for-profit for any means which they see fit, which is what this resolution does, giving them $300,000 toward the baseball field," Armstrong said.

Council member Mark Elliff, who serves as liaison to the McCune-Brooks trust board, said the money was specifically for the naming rights to the baseball stadium.

Armstrong said he wasn't satisfied with that reason.

New stadium

Carthage Superintendent Luke Boyer said a final name for the stadium has yet to be approved, but the name McCune-Brooks will be part of it.

The new stadium is needed to replace the old Carl Lewton Stadium, which was built in 1938 in Municipal Park. The concrete and stone stadium was declared unsafe in February by the city engineer because of deterioration and torn down in May, forcing the Carthage Tigers baseball team to play home games in Joplin in 2023 and 2024.

The new stadium was made possible initially with a $2.5 million donation from the Kent D. and Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust and is expected to be ready for play in spring 2025.

"This is made possible because the Steadley Trust decided to forgo their naming rights to allow us to raise an additional amount of money," Boyer said. "The Steadley Trust should get some recognition that they allowed this to happen."

He said he expects the Carthage Board of Education to vote on the bid specifications at its December meeting. He said the board hopes to accept a bid in January or February 2024.

The district put the project out for bids in October, but the the lowest of three bidders told the district just before the November board meeting that it would no longer be able to honor that low bid, so the school board voted to seek new bids.

Boots Court

Jeremy Morris, manager at the Boots Court Motel and Visitors Center, said the $120,000 grant would be a big help to the Boots Court Foundation as it continues to make improvements at the historic motel.

The foundation bought the Route 66 motel, built in the 1930s, from sisters Debye Harvey and Pricilla Bledsaw in 2021.

The sisters bought Boots Court in a foreclosure auction in 2011 and worked for 10 years to restore it. The foundation completed their work and opened all rooms of the motel earlier this year.

Morris said the visitors center, located in a former Sinclair service station, was opened in October. He said part of the planned improvements would link the motel and visitors center with a driveway and parking spaces.

"The next phase after that is to fix up our surroundings and unite the two buildings with a green space," Morris said. "So we want a common area for people to sit. We should have a fire pit out here, and we might have a gazebo and more walking spaces behind and in front of the visitors center."

He said the land behind the visitors center will be landscaped and include spaces for RVs or even food trucks.