Federal funding comes through for Veterans Park

Thanks to a federal grant worth over $650,000, restrooms will be built at Veterans Park to serve both the park and the historic Hamtramck baseball stadium. File photo

By Charles Sercombe
The hits just keep coming for Hamtramck’s historic baseball stadium and Veterans Park.
Last week, US Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence announced that Hamtramck will receive $653,989 to build restrooms at the park. Back in July, Lawrence gave the city a heads-up that it was in the running for the grant.
At that time, she said:
Veterans Park and Hamtramck Stadium have immense historical significance for Hamtramck, Michigan, and our country. With the countless Michiganders and visitors who use this space, I’m proud to have secured funding to make the park more accessible and sustainable.”
The grant is coming from a community development funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This grant is the latest one awarded to the park and stadium, with previous grants coming from the Michigan DNR ($800,000) and the Wilson Foundation ($500,000).
The latest grant will be used specifically to install restrooms in already existing buildings on the site.
The stadium, built in the 1930s, has already undergone significant renovation during the past couple of years. But it wasn’t always that way for the stadium. For decades, the stadium’s condition declined.
Hamtramck High School stopped playing games there in the 1980s.
The grandstands were repeatedly vandalized, and had to be closed off.
It wasn’t until several years ago that the stadium’s historical significance was discovered. The Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium has also been instrumental in helping to secure funding for the park, and raise awareness of its place in history.
The stadium was once home to the Detroit Stars, who were part of the Negro baseball league. That league existed back when African-Americans were barred from playing in Major League Baseball.
Stadium supporters continue to seek funding to create an entertainment complex at the park.
The partially renovated stadium has already hosted a number of old-fashioned ball games, and even rock star Jack White hosted a game there.
At the same time, the city has been aggressively seeking funding to renovate Veterans Park. The park, which is adjacent to the stadium, has undergone significant improvements in recent years.
The park also benefited from a volunteer organization in the 1990s, Preserve Our Parks.
POP is credited for preventing a city development plan in the early 90s to build a community center in the front section of the park, which was also going to double as a police station.
At that time, a number of city officials said the park was too rundown to save.
Hamtramck, then as now, has relatively few green spaces for the public to enjoy.
While there has been much attention to the improvements being done at the park and stadium, there has been one thing missing: restrooms for the public.
While news of the recent grants was welcomed by city officials and others, there are some in the community, who have commented on social media, who doubt the restrooms will survive for long.
“I expect them to be shut down within a short period of time. Cost of maintenance alone will be tens of thousands each year,” said Nasr Hussain, a former Hamtramck Public School District boardmember, in the Facebook page called “Hamtramck Square.”
He added: “Whoever sought funding for this project, instead of a better project, should resign.”
But Phillip Kwik, who helped organize Preserve Our Parks and is a former city councilmember, replied to Hussain, saying:
“What? No faith in the people of Hamtramck? Maybe you should teach your children better than to destroy public property.”
Posted April 1, 2022