Gant Stadium Historic Designation

The City of Zanesville hopes improving Gant Stadium will create a catalyst for more change in the West Main Street area.

At this weeks’ city council meeting a vote was taken to designate the stadium as a historic location. There were many reasons why the city believes the structure to be of significance, starting with Nelson T. Gant.

“Obviously the original naming of Gant after a gentleman who struggled, survived, persevered, and prospered Mr. Gant. We had a lot of great people play or be present at the facility and just the significance of what that has brought to the community,” said City of Zanesville Mayor Don Mason.

By making the location historic $100,000 becomes available from the State of Ohio and State Senator Tim Schaffer to make improvements to the structure. Improvements could include new outfield lights, a more modern scoreboard that could be a source of revenue through advertising and a larger concession area, among other items.

“Clearly if we enhance the restrooms it will qualify for state playoffs things of that nature. I also want to see what we can do to really encourage more children in the area to get back into sports, to play baseball in summer, to play basketball out at the playground, so it’s a piece of the comprehensive plan,” said Mayor Mason.

The mayor also hopes the plan can include updating the playground equipment at the stadium so families can enjoy the facility even more.