Quimby Field – Gardiner ME

Description

“The Quimby Athletic Field of Gardiner was enlarged to make a combination baseball and football field at a cost of $17,257.08 of which $1,368.50 was spent for material.
There were 11,700 cubic yards of earth moved and 300 cubic yards of ledge had to be taken out. All was done by hand.
Two grandstands 50 feet long were constructed from lumber salvaged at the Veteran’s Administration Grounds at Togus. They were roofed with metal roofing, painted with a heavy coat of asphalt aluminum paint. These stands will seat 300 people each. A dressing room was built beneath one and a lavatory and urinal installed. A concrete floor was built for possible installation of showers. A 200 foot water line and a 200 foot sewer line was laid from the stand to the city’s main line.
Two dugouts were built and painted, one made portable, it may be easily hauled off the grounds when football season starts.
This project was started May 4, 1934 and completed January 24, 1935. It employed an average crew of 40 men, but at the time of a strike at a local show shop 102 men were given work here for a period of 4 weeks.
The field is now in good condition and used most of the time by two baseball leagues, the Twilight League and the Junior League. Public sentiment can be easily judged by the large attendance at these games.”

According to the Quimby field Facebook page, the field continues to get a lot of use as a baseball field and a football field by the local Junior sport teams. When visiting the location, neither of the grandstands mentioned in the FERA report were there. The last mention of the grandstand was in a 1977 newspaper article. There is a toilet at the east side of the park but there is no indication as to the construction date.