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Thursday, September 9, 2010 |
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Old amphitheater could see rebirth
Published November 30, 2006
SEGUIN — Another attraction could soon be coming to Starcke Park — actually one that that has been there for decades, but has fallen into disuse.
City crews now are awaiting Seguin’s first freeze to help knock down weeds that have grown up in an old, stone outdoor amphitheater cut into a hillside behind the wave pool.
Then, workers will clear off the light brush and heavy vegetation — including poison ivy — that has grown up in the structure.
No one now at the parks department can remember when the amphitheater was last used. It sits off the end of the walking path aside the river in the wooded and brushy area behind the wave pool.
Parks Director Timothy Patek said the amphitheater’s tiered seating areas would allow for 50 or perhaps 100 people. He said he believed it was built of stone and fill by Works Progress Administration relief workers during the late 1930s or early 1940s — but did not know for sure.
“There are barbecues and other things in the park built by the WPA in the early 1940s,” Patek said. “Maybe they built this at the same time.”
Patek described the structure as a platform for a speaker or performer with tiered, raised seating areas cut of rock. He said he wasn’t sure whether there was some kind of masonry on the seats as well as their risers.
“It could be dirt, but the area’s been flooded three times since 1998,” Patek said. “You’ve got some silt build-up. We’re not sure.
“I grew up in Seguin. Until I came back four years ago, I had never heard of it.”
The site will require some significant cleanup before crews will be able to determine just what is there.
“We’ll wait a couple weeks for the vegetation to die, go in there, clean it up and see what we have,” Patek said. “At that point, we’re going to see what needs to be done.”
No money has been budgeted for any restoration. Right now, Patek said, the bulk of the effort would fall to facilities and grounds crews who would clear the area.
Later, the city will decide what to do with it. It would be possible to move back the wave pool fence and extend a walking trail to improve access.
“It could be a nice little added attraction,” Patek said.
The amphitheater could lend itself to meetings, small performances or other gatherings, Patek said, and could be handy during some of the year’s big events, such as the motorcycle rally or the ladies state chili cook-offs.
“Food for thought,” Patek said.
One of Patek’s predecessors at the parks department was Bill Huff, who was Seguin’s parks and recreation director in the 1970s and early 1980s. Huff remembers when the amphitheater was built.
Patek was correct that it had been built as part of a federal program — but not nearly as long ago as the Great Depression.
“We got money to hire low-income kids,” Huff said.
The program, known by various names over the years, provides summer employment. Matadors basketball coach Harry Miller administered it.
The students built the amphitheater under Miller’s supervision as a project that would have some permanence — for the builders and the community, Huff said.
“We wanted to do something that they could go back and look at years from now,” Huff said. “Coach Miller did a marvelous job with those kids.”
The idea also, Huff said, was that the amphitheater would be available for meetings or small affairs — just as the city is now considering.
“They could come outside for meetings instead of always having to be inside,” Huff said.
The surveying, planning and masonry work that went into the project offered a real-world learning experience that was hard to beat.
“Part of it was because of Harry,” Huff said. “He was a good leader, and he just did a great job with those kids.”
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