Pittsfield Historical Commission to Weigh In on Wahconah Park

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's Historical Commission will take on a conversation about Wahconah Park following an ask from the state Historical Commission to preserve its original structure.

Last week, it was announced that the Massachusetts Historical Commission "encourages consideration of project alternatives that would preserve the historic grandstand." ?

"I think that they perhaps didn't have enough context and the ability to really absorb the feasibility study, which is a very large document which detailed in a really robust way a lot of the structural issues that have been spoken about and how we've arrived at this alternative and sort of all the historical context we're trying to bring to this new design," Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath told the commission on Monday.

"So we're really looking to have a more thoughtful conversation with them around the whole full context of this project."

Planners were taken aback by the correspondence, as a raised and elevated option had been endorsed months ago, and Epsilon Associates was hired to guide these conversations.

"I think it's unreasonable to expect that the grandstand is going to be kept in any way," Commissioner Matthew Herzberg said. "For me, I mean, looking at this and knowing it as I do, that seems like a non-starter."

Though Herzberg did have criticisms of the $26.3 million design, such as its brick exterior and the pedestrian way from Wahconah Street that requires patrons to cross vehicular access.

"I questioned why brick is being used here and certainly being used in the volume that it is," he said.

"And I have nothing against brick in and of itself but this community doesn't necessarily have a strong brick-making tradition. This isn't Georgia. It's not Maryland. What we do have here is a history of wooden, steel grandstands."

Architect Salvatore Canciello explained that when the committee first had discussions about building materials, there was a preference for brick because felt it evoked the nostalgia for baseball that would last the next 100 years.

The team wants to replace the grandstands within the current footprint, reusing the current deep foundations and rebuilding it in the same configuration but adjusted slightly to meet the code and allow for more of a market use of the grandstand.

"One of the things that was talked about through that feasibility study and in the historic register is that really the environment created around the game and then nostalgia for the experience under the roof and in the bleachers was really considered by most of the people we've talked to during the process from the community as the important historic element of the project," he said.

"And something we wanted to kind of maintain or reestablish the best we could is really celebrating that nostalgia moving ahead."

The city has a preservation restriction on the building, meaning that the building and the site are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Mass Historical Commission's involvement comes into play when there are state permits needed for the project.

McGrath said a statement of support from the local commission might be of assistance. The panel agreed to have the conversation at a later meeting.

Pittsfield Says Goodbye to Wahconah Park Grandstand

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
07:45AM / Sunday, April 12, 2026

Mayor Peter Marchetti and 'Banjo Joe' Ryan lead a chorus of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' with a nod to the Pittsfield Suns. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Dozens of people bid farewell to the Wahconah Park grandstand on Saturday with a round of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," hot dogs, and stories about the ballpark. 

"Sometimes you felt like you were at Fenway Park, but mostly it just felt like home," Parks Commissioner Clifford Nilan said. 

"How lucky the players were to be playing in this park, and how lucky we were to be able to watch." 

Wahconah Park's 75-year-old grandstand was deemed unsafe in 2022, and planners have determined that starting from square one is the best option; a $15 million rebuild is on the table. Demolition is expected to begin soon, and the city planned the "Farewell to the Grandstand" event to celebrate its past and look forward to the future. 

The old grandstand also had to be redrafted when estimates for construction came in at more than $200,000. It would be built at about half the length of the wooden structure it replaced for a sum of $115,000.

"In the early 1900s, Wahconah Park went from concept on paper to construction. The grandstand was built between the 1949 and 1950 seasons. It was designed to seat about 2,000 fans. A few decades later, in 2005, Wahconah Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places," Mayor Peter Marchetti said. 

"That longevity matters because it connects today's games, school events, and community gatherings to more than a century of shared memories." 

Marchetti and "Banjo Joe" Ryan led a verse of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," adding "Root, root, root for the Suns, if they don't win it's a shame." Pittsfield and its longtime summer collegiate baseball team, the Pittsfield Suns, have signed a negotiating rights agreement, solidifying that the two will work together when the historic ballpark is renovated. 

Artifacts of the ballpark were displayed in cases outside of the grandstand for the event, along with banners depicting the park's history and a roped-off area for community members to see the structure one last time.