EAST WENATCHEE — There’s a space of green behind City Hall. It’s a bit of a secret.

The little park, which isn’t really considered a park by the city, is leftover from a bygone era.

The expanse of green grass is the shape of a wobbly baseball diamond. It has a small, run-down backstop. It’s kind of like a neighborhood sandlot, minus the sand. Neighbors say the field is known by a handful of youth baseball coaches and used in the spring by small children to practice T-ball.

“We used to take these guys over there to play T-ball when they were little,” said Dwayne Jones, talking about his now-grown children. Jones lives on Colorado Street near the park where he and his wife, Candice, have lived for 23 years. Now that the kids are beyond T-ball years, it’s the family dogs that get use of the park.

They’re not the only ones. Enough dogs (and people) use the green space that a pair of signs have been put up with a gentle reminder that dog owners pick up after their dogs.

The city’s streets department maintains the lawn with a sprinkler system and regular mowing as it maintains other pieces of city property. “City Hall does a pretty good job keeping it up,” said Brandon Jones, Dwayne and Candice Jones’ son.

The field is a remnant from the days that it served the original East Wenatchee School, long before the construction of Eastmont High School across 9th Street which would eventually become Eastmont Junior High School, now occupied by Gold’s Gym and office space.

“Before that, the only school in East Wenatchee was that, where City Hall now stands,” said East Wenatchee Mayor Steve Lacy.

He noted that the field isn’t the only remnant of the school. Rock work on both sides of 9th Street, near City Hall, are leftover from then, too. The land where City Hall and the almost-forgotten ball field are located was bought some time in the 10 years before the construction of the current city building, Lacy said.

The lonely little field isn’t exactly easy to get to. Tiny Colorado Street doesn’t have any parking, but those willing to walk a little can park at City Hall.

Rochelle Feil Adamowsky: 664-7153

feil@wenatcheeworld.com