KIRKWOOD, Mo – There are plans to demolish a park where 60 years of history and memories were created. The baseball fields on Marshall road, home to the Kirkwood Athletic Association, are all washed up
A lot of people have been expressing their disappointment about these plans.
The Kirkwood Athletic Association hoped to work out a way for people to still play ball here, but padlocks have been on the gates here since major flooding in 2019. COVID and litigation are other reasons for the demo.
It’s a big contrast, seeing the condition the fields are in today compared to what they looked like prior to flooding in 2019.
COVID killed revenue for the Kirkwood Athletic Association in 2020, and a lawsuit involving allegations of misconduct was another hurdle the association was unable to overcome.
It kept the association from being able to buy insurance, according to former Kirkwood Athletic Association director Eric Eckmeyer.
The property was turned over to the city, which recently accepted a $98,000 bid for demolition. The association was hoping to lease it back to play games there,
but that never happened.
These fields were built in the 1960s in the Meramec River Bottoms. The city has not determined what the property will eventually be used for.