If you ever wondered what would happen to buildings and monuments after a neutron bomb vaporized humanity, stop and take a peek at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, CT. If you thought man-made structures would endure for thousands of years, you’d be wrong. In just a few decades of neglect, Municipal Stadium – made of steel, concrete and granite – has begun to crumble. Water, with the power to carve the Grand Canyon, has seeped through every oriface of the stadium destroying materials in its path.
The City of Waterbury is now faced with a dilemma – drop a cool $4 million on restoration, or tear the stadium down. Mayor Neil O”Leary is in favor of bonding the $4 million, but the project needs the approval of 10 members of the Board of Aldermen. To see what they were voting on, the Board of Aldermen took a field trip Saturday, January 28th, to see the stadium first hand.
The followiing images were captured by Sondra Harman and Kevin Zak, who covered the event for the Waterbury Observer. The images speak for themselves.
Carnage behind the press box.
Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary, second from left, told the Republican-American newspaper that Saturday was the best day so far in his administration. The Board of Alderman had toured the former Chase Brass factory in Waterville, the McDermid property on East Aurora Street, and Municipal Stadium. O’Leary was quoted as saying that “Today, we got our hands dirty.”
One of the few areas maintained at the stadium was the Hank O’Donnell Hall Of Fame.
Will baseball continue to be played at Municipal Stadium? The answer to that question is in the hands of the Waterbury Board of Aldermen.