SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - A scoreboard installed Monday at The Island is the latest effort to improve the area off Fritz Reed Avenue.
Members of the Spotts family - some of which don't live in the borough - donated money last year for the scoreboard and one that was installed last spring.
"In the last six years, it looks (like) a totally different place," Roger Spotts said Tuesday. He is a council member and one of the people from the Spotts family who donated toward the scoreboard. In all, the Spotts family donated $85,150 for the betterment of The Island. Spotts' father played softball at the site before it became known as The Island.
The site is home to two fields, Spotts Field No. 1 and Spotts Field No. 2, which can be used for different sports events including softball. It also includes a multi-purpose field, a walking trail, a pavilion and a concession stand. Numerous events are also held at the site.
Spotts said he thought the initial donation might cover the scoreboards but it didn't because of extra costs for fill material for the new field.
Another addition that will add to the enjoyment of the site are bleachers. The Island Committee is paying for the bleachers at each field and three flag poles at the entrance. An exact time frame for them is unknown. Spotts said they could be installed at the site in May.
Efforts to improve the site have been ongoing for years.
"It probably goes back 25 to 30 years," Schuylkill County Commissioner Gary Hess said. He is vice president of the Island Committee, which has about 20 members, and former borough mayor.
"I'm very, very happy on what it is today," Hess said.
At one time, a baseball park existed there and people also lived on the land.
Hess thinks the development of the area can only get better. An amphitheater and other attractions are planned for the location and additions like the scoreboard benefit the county as a whole, he said.
Carl Berger, economic development director of the borough, said the improvements to The Island "enhance" the borough.
Borough workers erected the scoreboard and were paid with borough funds, said borough officials.