By Charles Billings

     The $1.175 million restoration of Madison's "historic" Breese Stevens Field on East Washington Avenue is on schedule for completion on May 30, 2008. The landmark stadium, which has been a home field for the Madison 56ers adult teams for thirty years, is well known today as a soccer venue. But this was not always the case.

Breese Stevens opened on May 5, 1926, and the first event held that evening was a baseball game between the semi-pro Madison Blues and the Beloit Fairies. Lights were installed in 1934, and for nearly forty years the field was Madison's premier sporting site. Baseball, football, track and field, circuses, midget car racing, ice-skating, almost every thing except soccer was played there. Beginning in the 1960s, with the construction of more modern sports facilities, such as Mansfield Stadium, Warner Park, and others, Breese Stevens became an under-utilized and somewhat neglected public park.

In 1977, the Madison 56ers Soccer Club, looking for a stadium-type facility to showcase their top teams, persuaded the Madison Parks Division to set up a soccer field in Breese Stevens and began playing a few games there. At that time, it was not a particularly good soccer venue. A running track forced the field to be a little narrow and the dirt baseball infield was a real problem, especially after a rain, and there were no working showers for the players. In 1979, the 56ers made Breese Stevens their designated home field for their Major and Reserve teams after being promoted into the Wisconsin Major Division, and began playing a full schedule of games there from April to November. This soccer usage got the Parks Division to remove the unused track and eventually the seldom-used baseball field, install two new locker rooms, and convert Breese Stevens into a quality soccer field. Suddenly, the stone-walled landmark was so popular with scholastic soccer programs such as UW-Madison soccer and the high schools that the 56ers were forced to move most of their home games to other sites, since scholastic programs get scheduling preference at city facilities.

The current restoration is intended to repair the structural problems due to many years of deferred maintenance and to bring the facility up to current code. The most notable change will be in the new, handicapped access, and in seating changes. Spectators will also get new bleacher seats. (No one is going to miss the old fiberglass benches.) Unfortunately, the removal of the old press box, with no plans to replace it during this restoration, is a problem for user groups. The press box included the public address system, scoreboard controls, and access to electricity. The 56ers have requested a meeting with Madison Parks' staff to address these problems, and hope to discuss ways to solve this problem soon.

The restoration by Bachman Construction appears to be going well. Hopefully, Breese Stevens Field will reopen as scheduled, allowing the Madison 56ers to inaugurate the "new" Breese Stevens Field in early June. The 56ers National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) amateur team will continue to use Breese Stevens as their home field, as it has been the 56ers' home field for nearly thirty years. The best in amateur competition will again be on display as the NPSL team goes for its third consecutive Midwest Region Championship and the elusive National Championship that got away the last two years.