Memorial Field, once 'the heart of the city,' to reopen in Mount Vernon this week
Every few weeks for months, Gary Johnson has gone to the dead end of McLellan Avenue in Mount Vernon. He's been tracking the progress as an integral part of his youth is brought back to life.
The restoration of Memorial Field is personal for Johnson and for thousands of other city residents who played, graduated and socialized there before years of neglect forced its closure more than a decade ago.
"This was the heart of the city, where the corner store owner, your teacher and your neighbors would come watch you play every week," said Johnson, who was a running back and linebacker for the Mount Vernon High School Knights in the early 1980s.
"No matter what your issue was, we'd come out here and watch the kids go crazy on the field. Nothing else mattered," he said. "It was our common ground that we've been missing for so long."
The park will be formally opened at a ceremony Wednesday with varsity football returning on Saturday for the first time since 2008.
The complex will boast a synthetic-turf field for football and soccer, an eight-lane track, a skate park, grandstands, locker rooms and concession stands. The site will also have room for three tennis courts.
What happened to Memorial Field?
Memorial Field was one of the region’s most prominent athletic complexes for decades.
The city park was named Memorial Field in 1931, and in the 20th century it hosted events such as boxing matches (future heavyweight champion James Braddock defeated Abe Feldman there in 1933), concerts (the Jackson 5 performed there in 1975), and other iconic moments (Coca-Cola’s “Mean” Joe Greene television commercial filmed there in 1979).
Of course, the facility also hosted football games for decades, serving as a home field for Mount Vernon High School and as a site for Section 1’s championship games.
By the 1990s the complex had started falling into disrepair, and Westchester County began talks about buying the property from the city. In 2007, the Mount Vernon High School football team played a home game at the new field at the school, which marked the first home game in decades that the team played away from Memorial Field. The complex soon closed to the public.
In 2008, the city signed an intermunicipal agreement with the county to renovate Memorial Field. It called for Westchester to lease the field for 15 years in exchange for $9.7 million to renovate it, with $3.4 million advanced to Mount Vernon, which was to contribute an additional $3 million.
Despite hiring contractors and spending much of the money, the city never completed the work. The original plans were altered to save the grandstand and promote tennis on the site.
In 2015, state inspectors found 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil had been illegally dumped on the site. City officials sparred over spending and the county withheld money for the project as questions lingered about the partnership. Then in 2018, the tennis bubble was destroyed by a contractor hired by the city, ending the tennis center's presence on site.
After years of no progress and officials trying to figure out how to make this project work, the county took over the planning and construction and awarded a contract in 2020 for the work to begin. The plan calls for the county to turn over Memorial Field to the city once construction was finished.
How much did the Memorial Field rebuild cost?
The cost to restore Memorial Field has more than tripled as a result of the delay. When the contract with LandTek was first approved in 2020 it stood at just under $25 million, with the state promising to kick in $5 million.
That price tag jumped earlier this year to $40 million due to supply chain issues and the discovery of chunks of concrete and other debris buried under the property.
When will games be played at Memorial Field?
The high school football team will play its home games this season at Memorial Field, Mount Vernon athletic director Bob Cimmino said. The first is Sept. 24 at 1:30 p.m. vs. the Yonkers Force.
Other games include Oct. 1 vs. Suffern, 3 p.m. and Oct. 22 vs. Arlington, 1:30 p.m., according to Cimmino, who said it is possible the team could play additional games there after the regular season is complete.
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The city said the game on Sept. 24 is the only game scheduled for Memorial Field at the moment, though, and that there will be "limited events" there before the spring as construction finishes up over the next few months.
Mount Vernon has not played any games at the high school so far. Last week's game and this week's game were both on the road. As of now, Cimmino was not aware of any additional Mount Vernon sporting events that will be played at Memorial Field this fall.
The football team will hold a couple of practices this week at Memorial Field to get used to its turf; Mount Vernon's home field is grass.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to see our team play there on the 24th," Cimmino said. "There's been so much history that I've witnessed down at Memorial Field. From watching our football team play there to seeing the New York Giants or the section football playoffs, baseball and softball games. There's been a little bit of everything there. That field has been in so much disarray for so many years. I'm so glad everyone came together and the county stepped up like it did to help."
Who else will use Memorial Field?
Just who will get to use Memorial Field and when has yet to be revealed. Westchester will jointly manage it with the city until early in 2023 and procedures for how to book the field are still being worked out, a county spokesperson said.
And there are still discussions as to whether the city's youth football program, now called Mount Vernon United, will be able to use it. Johnson, who coaches in the 11-and-under program, played Razorbacks football there as a boy and can't imagine the field reopening without the city's children having access.
"This city is driven by its youth and letting them play there will bring out their grandmothers and everyone to watch them," Johnson said. "It gives the kids and the city something to have pride in."
A timeline of Memorial Field history
Timeline: See significant dates in Memorial Field history
1868: The property that now houses Memorial Field was part of a larger parcel owned by John B. Dunham, a successful New York City piano maker. After Dunham died the land went to his widow. The property was sold in 1873 to Benjamin Fairchild, a former U.S. Congressman and successful real estate developer in Mount Vernon and Pelham. It was later subdivided into a residential neighborhood.
1924: Westchester County map of Mount Vernon shows Egmont and McClellan avenues used to run straight through from East Fifth Street to the north and down to East Sixth Street, which is present-day East Sandford Boulevard. By 1927, maps would show a new landscape. All of Egmont and more than half of McClellan would be closed between East Fifth and East Sixth, and between Garden and Highland streets. The three-block area had been turned into a city park with grass and trees.
Feb. 11, 1931: Mount Vernon Common Council approves an ordinance officially renaming the park Memorial Field.
Sept. 25, 1933: Future Heavyweight Champion James Braddock fights Abe Feldman at Memorial Field as a benefit for the Mount Vernon Police Department Relief Fund. Braddock, whose career was the subject of the book and movie “Cinderella Man,” broke his right hand in the fight, which was ruled no contest.
Nov. 23, 1968: The Westchester Bulls, a farm team of the NFL New York Giants, plays its final game at Memorial Field.
Sept. 1, 1975: The Jackson 5 perform at Memorial Field with the band Tavares. The field also hosted James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich, Jose Feliciano and others over the years.
May, 1979: Coca-Cola films its iconic “Mean” Joe Greene television commercial at Memorial Field.
Oct. 21, 1989: After 24 years of use, the Iona College football team leaves Memorial Field after completion of Mazzella Field at its New Rochelle campus.
Aug. 12, 1996: Mayor Ernie Davis orders the deteriorating Memorial Field to be padlocked at night.
June 1999: The last Mount Vernon High School graduation is held at Memorial Field.
Sept. 15, 2007: The Mount Vernon football team defeats White Plains 25-7 at the team’s new field at the high school. It was the first home game in decades the team played away from Memorial Field, which had begun to lapse further into disrepair.
Nov. 26, 2008: Mount Vernon signs an Inter-Municipal Agreement with Westchester County to renovate Memorial Field. The deal calls for Westchester County to lease the field for 15 years in exchange for $9.7 million to renovate it, with $3.4 million advanced to the city. Mount Vernon is required to contribute an additional $3 million to be paid, in large part, through three municipal bonds. The city would also be responsible for taking over about four miles of county-owned roads. The plan calls for renovation or replacement of most of the stadium. That includes a new synthetic turf football and soccer field, a natural turf soccer field, both with lighting, a 4,000-seat grandstand, an all-weather running track, illuminated basketball courts, and new bathrooms, ticket booths and entrance plaza off Sandford Boulevard.
Aug. 23, 2011: City Council approves hiring Avanti Building Construction Corp., the lowest bidder for the redevelopment of Memorial Field, up to $1.67 million for “Memorial Field redevelopment and site preparation.”
Jan. 31, 2012: Newly returned to office, Mayor Davis says he told Avanti Construction to stop demolition of the grandstands. Davis, a lifelong avid tennis player, would spend the next four years re-focusing the Memorial Field project, ignoring the field and grandstands and making the rebuilding and reopening of the tennis center a priority.
Nov. 20, 2015: The state Department of Environmental Conservation, after finding 12,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with coal, ash and slag had been illegally dumped on the site, files a Notice of Violation against the city regarding Memorial Field. There is no determination as to how the soil came to be dumped at the field. The city ultimately agreed to pay a $40,000 fine.
May 2, 2016: Mayor Richard Thomas releases development options for Memorial Field. The mayor proposes three alternatives to reopen the field, ranging from a $14.2 million minimal repair plan to a $31 million plan to refurbish the field and add retail space.
May 28, 2017: Memorial Field opens to the public for the first time in nearly a decade. Mayor Thomas has the grandstand and portions of the field closed off for a “Seafood Festival” hosted by Dazzles restaurant. The event irks the city council, which wasn’t notified nor assured the field was safe.
Early 2018: Thomas administration notifies Kela Tennis Center they must vacate the premises due to the unsafe condition of the grandstand next door.
May 2018: Thomas administration has the grandstands demolished.
June 1, 2018: The tennis bubble is demolished. Within a week, the operator of the tennis center, Kela Simunyola, files a $27 million breach of contract lawsuit against the city.
June 2018: Westchester County Executive George Latimer writes to the city expressing the county’s interest in completing Memorial Field and seeking details on how the earlier county money was spent.
July 2018: City council obtains a restraining order blocking the Thomas administration from any further action at Memorial Field.
Fall 2018: Mount Vernon and Westchester County reach new agreement calling for county to proceed on Memorial Field rebuild.
February 2020: Latimer announces county plan to rebuild Memorial Field.
August 2020: LandTek is awarded $24.9 million contract to rebuild Memorial Field with a football field, eight-lane track, 3,000-seat grandstand, skate park, tennis court, concession stand and locker rooms.
March 2022: County announces the cost of renovation increased to about $40 million due to supply issues and discovery of additional buried debris and concrete.
Sept 21, 2022: The new Memorial Field will be formally opened.
Sept. 24, 2022: The Mount Vernon High School football team will play at Memorial Field for the first time in 14 years.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Memorial Field to reopen in Mount Vernon after long-delayed rebuild
