Group working to rehabilitate Stout ball field

STOUT — The Astrodome will rise again. That’s the hope of a group at the First Reformed Church of Stout, which is currently raising money to replace the concession/storage building and restroom facility at the ball field on Stout’s southeast side.
Aptly named the Astrodome, the field itself is suitable for use, though the building that houses the concession stand and restroom is not. A task force led by Brent Smiens, Nolan Junker and Lee Aswegan has been aiming to change that.
The Astrodome was built in the 1940s by a board that included Dan Andreessen, Charlie Nevenhoven, Charlie Juel, Harvey Dilger and Earnest Alter. The church was later donated to the Reformed Church and has been used for town baseball and softball games, church league softball, town celebrations, fireworks and Little League baseball.
Junker said the building that currently houses the concession stand had been a chicken house on a farm and was brought to the Astrodome. It was used last year, despite rotting and Junker said it needs to come down. In addition, the facilities outhouses had to be replaced by portable toilets after the city installed sewers and told facility operators that they could no longer use the outhouses.
Read the full article in the December 29 edition of the papers.