As published in the Gazette Newspaper 10 Jul 2020
ANDOVER VILLAGE – The John R. Overly Recreation Park Board is currently in the planning stages of renovating and improving the restrooms at John R. Overly Recreation Park, located at 134 Maple St. in Andover. The Ashtabula County Civic Development Corporation is helping to raise funds for the project through its 2020 campaign, which has a theme of “Shared Vision: A Community Blueprint.”
According to Andover Village Administrator Rich Mead, the CDC already approved funding, but the village will need to raise additional funding and donations to complete the project. The project will involve renovating and improving the restrooms at the park to make them handicap accessible. “They’re very plain,” said Mead of the restrooms. Work will include redoing the stalls, toilets and fixtures. A large portion of the project will also include redoing the concrete painted floor to be safer and nicer looking.
For those unfamiliar, John R. Overly Recreation Park is the largest playground in Andover and is home to multiple Little League teams. Andover Village Vice-President Rick Orahood said that the park contains a lot of history. He’s been part of the park since he was a child. Originally what is now known as John R. Overly Recreation Park was owned by Pymatuning Valley Local Schools. “When I was eight or nine years old, I played Little League baseball where the current parking lot is now, next to Chestnut Street,” said Orahood. “There was also a Pony League baseball field south of the Little League field and further south than that, a high-school football field. That was in the 1960s. All the Little League games were played there, plus the farm system played there. At the time, [we] would play with Williamsfield, Pierpont, Dorset and New Lyme during those years.”
Orahood also played football in the fields in high school around 1967 as well, while baseball teams continued to play there.
The fields remained in use mostly by people of Andover and local students until about 1979. It was then Pymatuning Valley built new fields next to the school they had created in 1974. After that, the only field being maintained for baseball teams was on Ohio Avenue, a field still in use today. This became a problem around the 1980s, as Little Leagues lacked places to play that were not already in use.
Orahood said that in hopes of solving the problem, he and four other gentleman went to an Andover Village Council meeting one night to see what could be done to obtain more baseball fields for use. “We were using the new fields at the high school, but it was hard to use them because the high school was using them,” said Orahood. “I asked if they could build more fields for us…Francis Bay, who was Council president at the time, approached me after the meeting, asked questions, what was needed and to look for property. He was the only one that was good enough to come to me and say, ‘I can help you anyway we can.’ I only knew of the old football field, which was then a hayfield at the time, not being used at all.” After that, Orahood approached Pymatuning Valley Superintendent Keith Timons with area residents Bill Goff, Tom Hockran and Jack Root in hopes of finding a solution and the district eventually offered the recreation park to the village around the late ’80s/early ’90s.
This became a benefit for both the community and the school, no longer competing with each other, as well as because of their support for each other.
Through help from the Andover Rotary Club, money was raised to update and maintain the park, along with help from Andover Village Administrator John Overly, or as many knew him, “Jack.” “He was well-liked in town,” said Orahood. “He was very popular with the people in Andover. He was the village favorite. He worked well with organizations, knew what they needed to do and put in three fields back there and room for another tee-ball field.”
Overly worked hard on the property, as well as received a lot of help building more fields through the community. Help came from Tom Hockran, who used excavation equipment to build the fields. A playground and walking track were added, along with a concession stand that not only allowed the Pymatuning Area Youth Organization to sell and serve food, but also offered room for the public to host gatherings like family reunions through its large kitchen and restrooms.
After Overly passed away around 2000/2001, Orahood said that people gathered together and dedicated the park to him, naming it John R. Overly Recreation Park.
Orahood said he can’t say enough good things about the CDC in helping out its local communities. “They come to the rescue,” said Orahood. Andover Village’s web page contains a link to the CDC website so that people can donate at any time to the organization, something he encourages. “Without them, we wouldn’t be getting an upgrade for restrooms,” said Orahood.
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