MEQUON, Wis. — Mequon neighbors are vowing to save a historic baseball field.
For 80 years, generations of families have come to play and watch games at Mequon's Rennicke Field. The diamond is the home field for Homestead High School, while also hosting various other travel programs and events.
Community members became worried late last year when the city hired a firm to help re-imagine the surrounding Civic Center campus, which includes City Hall, the pool, library and Rennicke Field.
Watch: As new season begins, Mequon neighbors vow to save historic baseball field
As the new Homestead baseball season begins, one parent sought out TMJ4 to make sure their voices get heard. Jennifer Wirth runs the Friends of Rennicke Foundation, a group that originally formed as part of the local travel team Mequon Heat that Wirth also runs.
"The uncertainty over what could happen in the next few years is a concern," Wirth said. "I think the community would lose out on a part of their history and a part of what has defined us as a community."
The field is named for Don Rennicke, one of Homestead's first baseball coaches. More than 900 have signed a petition in support of saving the field.
Current Homestead seniors Jack Adams and Keaton Lewis said they've been playing at Rennicke Field for much longer.
"Dreams into reality to play here now," Lewis said. "When we come back here in 20 years, when we're adults and we bring our kids here, we want to bring them to this spot, this exact spot."
"This is where living in Wisconsin started for me and living in Mequon, at Rennicke Field," Adams said.
There have been no formalized plans yet, and there likely won't be for some time. The city is hosting an open house April 30 for neighbors to pitch their ideas. It will take place from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Mequon Public Market.
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