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Pete Paduch speaks at Memorial Stadium Tuesday.
(Brian Bishop / Johnson City Press)

Stadium may be closer to historical designation

By Brad Hicks
Press Staff Writer
bhicks@johnsoncitypress.com

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Although wrecking balls will soon be poised to split the uprights at Memorial Stadium, a citizens group seeking to have it recognized as a national historical site has learned the stadium may be one step closer to obtaining that designation.

Tuesday, former Johnson City commissioner Pete Paduch, who is also a member of the Committee for Preservation and Responsible Spending, received a letter from the Tennessee Historical Commission stating that it feels the more than 70-year-old stadium is eligible to be recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The staff of the Tennessee Historical Commission had the privilege to visit and review historical information about Memorial Stadium in Johnson City,” states the letter signed by Tennessee Historical Commission Executive Director E. Patrick McIntyre Jr. “After reviewing information about the stadium, it is our opinion that Memorial Stadium contains historical significance to the local community and is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.”

In August, the Committee for Preservation and Responsible Spending submitted an application to the Tennessee Historical Commission requesting the stadium be recognized. Members of that commission also visited the site and researched the stadium’s history, Paduch said.

According to the letter, the Tennessee Historical Commission now intends to present Memorial Stadium’s nomination to the State Review Board in January. This board will review the nomination and, if approved, would then forward the nomination to the National Park Service to have the stadium listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

However, recognition on the National Register would not prevent the demolition of the stadium, Paduch said. In September, the Johnson City Commission approved proceeding with the construction of a new stadium on the grounds of Science Hill High School, paving the way for the Memorial Stadium site to be redeveloped as a civic campus that would include a new Seniors’ Center, and replacements for the aging Legion Street Rec Center and Princeton Arts Center.

Paduch said the decision to demolish Memorial Stadium and construct a new one at the high school went against how most in the community felt. He also said that Memorial Stadium would represent the only city-owned historical site in Johnson City, thus belonging to the taxpayers.

“To think that they want to tear down the only publicly-owned historical site is sort of hard to understand,” Paduch said. “I don’t know if you could ever justify if you had 10 of them tearing one of them down, but you certainly can’t justify tearing down the only one that you’ve got.”

Paduch does not expect the city to await the decision of the Tennessee Historical Commission Review Board. If anything, he believes the upcoming review will expedite the city’s efforts to demolish the stadium to avoid tearing down a historically designated site.

“I honestly think they’re going to run out first chance they get, start up the bulldozers and start tearing something down, whether it’s the building or the field or something,” Paduch said.

However, Johnson City Manager Pete Peterson said the City Commission’s decision to relocate the stadium was made prior to any historical designation that may be forthcoming. As it stands today, Memorial Stadium is not an established historical site, he said, and demolition of Memorial Stadium is soon to get under way.

“It makes one wonder if the efforts to get the stadium designated as a historic site are really an effort to block the decision already made by the commission,” Peterson said.

Peterson said work is well under way on design documents for the new stadium, and the city intends to put the project out to bid in January and for it to be completed in August.

He also said the city has been working with architect David Cockrill on the civic campus and that the timeline to develop the Memorial Stadium site is driven by the commission’s desire to see work begin on the civic campus, particularly the Seniors’ Center component, and not action or inaction by the Tennessee Historical Commission Review Board. He said officials are hopeful construction can begin on the first building in late winter to early spring.

Peterson said the decisions to proceed with the projects were based on community input and thus far feedback from citizens regarding the projects has been very positive.

Paduch, however, argues that moving forward with the projects may be unwise in the current economic climate. He said that if the city must move forward with an on-campus stadium, Memorial Stadium should be allowed to stand and a new Seniors’ Center could be constructed at another site.

Peterson said a committee previously looked at more than 20 potential sites for a new Seniors’ Center and that there would be cost savings realized by redeveloping the city-owned Memorial Stadium site, including a parking lot already in place and not having any land acquisition costs. The civic campus would also be a vital component of downtown redevelopment, Peterson said.

Still, Paduch said he has gathered that members of the Tennessee Historical Commission are optimistic about Memorial Stadium’s chances of receiving national historic recognition. He also said he is unaware of any site receiving that status being demolished.

“I guess it’s happened in this country, but I can’t imagine being the city or the person saying ‘let’s tear it down,’ ” Paduch said.