Renovations at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore nearing completion

KILGORE, Texas (KLTV) - It’s been about a four month renovation process for the R.E. Saint John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore. Everything from the turf field, to locker rooms and bathrooms for the home and visitors teams are renovated at the stadium.

The bond election was for $113 million for the purpose of acquiring land, designing and constructing new district facilities, as well as renovating existing facilities. Superintendent Andy Baker said the stadium renovations were part of Proposition B for four million dollars.

“What you got out of that was the new field, the extended field, all your new facilities up front. And you can’t see but we actually were able to attach a road behind us, so now we have a  thoroughfare which we never had before in the past, to help us get bus traffic and pedestrian traffic in and out of the stadium a little bit easier,” Baker said.

The field has new emblems, and an additional 40 yards on the south end to give more space for teams to warm up or get ready for halftime performances.

“The Kilgore College locker rooms are still standing, what we’ve added are two half-time houses for Bulldogs. So we’ve got a home half-time house and a visitor half-time house over here on this side,” he said.

They’ve been working on the project since school ended in May. Kilgore ISD now owns the facility, where it used to be shared with Kilgore College.

“Kilgore College still works out here, they still have their football locker rooms here, the Rangerettes are actually practicing here behind us right now. So it’s still their facility as well to use, but it’s completely owned by Kilgore ISD,” Baker said.

At the front entrance, fans will see some familiar pieces that came from the old scoreboard, as well as new sidewalks, and stripped parking lots.

“And then a new concession stand, and we’re refurbishing the existing ticket booth,” he added.

Baker tells us they felt the impact of material shortages but were able to be on the field this past Friday night for their first game of the season on the new field, and came out with a win.

Renovations at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore are nearing completion.

Renovations to the field and turf are complete. Renovations continue on the bathrooms and concession stands at the stadium.

Erin Wides talks to Kilgore ISD Superintendent Andy Baker about the renovations.

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