Save the fireplace at Mitchell Stadium

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

May 05, 2008 05:30 pm

— It has come to my attention that remodeling the dressing rooms at Mitchell Stadium will include the demolition of a 72-year-old stone fireplace that was built by W.P.A. workers during the Depression. The remodeling is a much-needed improvement.
However, I would like the City Board of Directors to re-evaluate the current plans to see if the fireplace could be saved. I am a strong supporter of high school sports. Fortunate enough to have been a manager of the 1990 AAA Div. 6 Virginia State Champion football team, I believe sports build self esteem amongst teenagers and help keep a community united.
I am also a history buff with a strong desire to save historical structures as a way to educate and preserve our society. History is our best teacher, even if much of our modern-day world disregards its lessons. These lessons will be taught less and disregarded more if we keep letting our history and its structures fall to the wayside when I believe a compromise can be reached.
The fireplace is not just an old structure. It is the product of not only the skill of artisans, but also the desire of men to feed their children. The W.P.A. helped save the economy, and it saved the lives of skilled workers’ children and families who were literally starving.
I am sure a new plan could be drawn up that will accommodate the sports teams’ need for new facilities, but will also save the fireplace. Can’t this structure of not only Mitchell Stadium’s history, but of our country’s history, be preserved?
Elizabeth Crabtree, Bluefield, WV