By Amanda Rogers
Mansfield Record
City officials dug into the oldest baseball field in Mansfield on Monday, making way for a new place for residents to play.
Geyer Field, at the northwest corner of East Broad Street and North Walnut Creek Drive, has hosted baseball, soccer and PE classes for decades as part of the Mansfield ISD.
Now the ball field is set to become Geyer Commons, a $5.6 million city-owned area with a splash pad, maker market huts for vendors to rent, fountain, gateway arch and a driveway. The first phase is expected to be completed in early fall 2025, said Matt Young, executive director of community services for the city.
“It’s really a civic space, a great place for people to gather for things like the farmers market, vendors, lots of places for picnic tables, shade and concerts,” Young said.
Phase 1B of the project will see the historic home currently located just south of Fire Station No. 1 on South Main Street moved to the area, and other historic buildings reconstructed at Geyer Commons. Planned buildings are reconstructions of the city’s co-ed college, city co-founder Julian Feild’s home, Britton Bank and Cumberland Presbyterian Church, said City Manager Joe Smolinski. This phase will include the reconstruction of Brown Street, Young added.
Phase 2 will include demolition of some of the Mansfield ISD buildings, Young said, which will happen after the school district moves into the current City Hall building at 1200 E. Broad St. Phase 2 will also include a Wiffle ball field.
In November 2023, the Mansfield ISD and the city swapped properties with the city getting Geyer Field and Mansfield ISD administration buildings at East Broad Street and North Walnut Creek Drive, along with the shopping center on the northeast side of the East Broad and North Walnut Creek Drive intersection. The school district will receive the current City Hall building after the city builds and moves into a new facility on Heritage Parkway.
The Mansfield ISD Administration Building, built in 1924, and the Rock Gym, a WPA Project built in 1940, both recognized as historic landmarks, along with a gazebo on the property will remain, Young said.
Mansfield, Texas, is a booming city, nestled between Fort Worth and Dallas, but with a personality all its own. The city’s 76,247 citizens enjoy an award-winning school district, vibrant economy, historic downtown, prize-winning park system and community focus spread across 37 square miles. The Mansfield Record is dedicated to reporting city and school news, community happenings, police and fire news, business, food and restaurants, parks and recreation, library, historical archives and special events. The city’s only online newspaper launched in September 2020 and will offer introductory advertising rates for the first three months at three different rates.