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Brandt-Quirk Park

[Quarry Park]

 

1969

05 06       PROGRESS REPORT ON DEVELOPMENT OF

John Steber of the Watertown Park and Recreation Department spoke on the progress of Quarry Park to the Watertown Lions Club.  The meeting was held at the Watertown Country Club.  The director spoke on the history of the park and future plans for development.  He illustrated his remarks with a slide presentation.  Steber said the Quarry Park trail opened in spring of 1981 and the Park and Recreation Commission began actively looking for a large parcel for a community park.  In April of 1986, 74 acres was acquired for a park.  An archaeological study costing $1,148 had to be done before any development could take place.  Approval was received in July of 1986 for $30,000 in development funds.   WDT

 

1985

09 25       Watertown has received the maximum amount of eligible federal aid to acquire 74 acres of land for the future development of Quarry Park.  A spokesperson from Sen. Robert Kasten's office said the Department of Interior has granted Watertown $92,500 in land acquisition funds. The money will be used toward the purchase of the 74 acres of west side property, previously owned by Herbert Lunde.  The new property, when combined with previously designated Quarry Park land, will eventually give Watertown a 166 acre park.  City officials hope to begin formal planning work on the facility next year.   WDT

 

1990

054 08      City park officials will unveil the final plans for the development of Quarry Park at a meeting at the Watertown Senior Center, 7 p.m., Wednesday.  Tim Bablitch of Gremmer-Bablitch Architects Engineers will explain the master plan for the park, which is expected to become Watertown’s major recreational facility when completed.  John Steber, director of the park, recreation and forestry department, said the firm’s plans will guide development of the park in the coming years.  He hopes that residents will like what they see.   WDT

 

1999

08 18       The Park, Recreation and Forestry Commission will consider approving the master plan of Brandt/Quirk Park Tuesday when it meets with engineering firm Bonestroo & Associates of Mequon.  The public is invited to attend and offer input on designs for the park’s recreational facilities, which include a youth baseball center, skate park/BMX facility, tennis and basketball courts, soccer fields, a nursery and parking lots.  Rest rooms, concession stands and a shelter adjacent to the soccer fields are included in designs.   WDT

 

08 27       An initial review of plans for the youth baseball complex in the developing Brandt/Quirk Park revealed a shocking conclusion - the center will cost about $200,000 more to construct than previously estimated.  “This was a shocker,” said John Steber, director of the Watertown Park, Recreation and Forestry Department.  Steber said the initial estimate for the 11-acre Brandt Baseball Center was $612,000.  Now, the planning firm Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik & Associates is saying the same facility will cost $812,611.  Steber said the additional cost stems from an oversight by Bonestroo in its initial estimate.  That figure did not include $78,365 for a storm sewer and field drainage system.  There were also a number of other add-ons that increased the cost projection, he said.   WDT

 

09 04       Youth Baseball Complex—Almost a quarter million dollars was lopped off the price of a youth baseball complex at the developing Brandt/Quirk Park on Watertown’s west side through discussions Tuesday.  The Watertown Park, Recreation and Forestry Commission identified 13 areas in which money could be saved, allowing the project’s cost to come in at projections.  The commission was informed Aug. 24 that there were cost overruns of approximately $250,000 for the proposed development of the park.   WDT

 

09 30       The Watertown Tennis Association has kicked off a $100,000 fund-raising effort for the development of Brandt/Quirk Park with a $7,500 donation.  Those funds have been given to the Watertown Area Community Foundation where they will be held until the goal is reached.  The $100,000 drive from the private sector is part of an overall $1.3 million financing package for the 2000 full development of the city's newest community park.   WDT

 

2000

02 09       BRANDT/QUIRK PARK FUND-RAISING EFFORT

In an effort to lay the foundation for the proposed Brandt/Quirk Park, a fund-raising effort of selling bricks is under way, according to John Schloemer, brick coordinator.  Bricks are being sold in several businesses throughout the community with proceeds going to an effort to raise $100,000 in private funds for the development of the Brandt/Quirk Park.  The fund-raising committee held a meeting last week and “we are encouraged by the sales because we have not done a lot of promotion yet,” Schloemer said.  As of last week, about 30 of the bricks had been sold, he said.“  In some regards this is encouraging because we have not been working at it yet.”   WDT

 

05 04          The Watertown Park and Recreation Department is holding a 12-hour baseball fund-raiser May 20 at Riverside Park.  Funds raised during the baseball marathon will be directed to the development of the Brandt/Quirk Park.  The fund drive is to assist the private sector's donation of $100,000 to the overall $1.4 million need for the city's newest community park.  The plan is to have the park constructed by the fall of this year.   WDT

 

09 24          Brandt/Quirk Park, the gem of Watertown's park system, was dedicated in two programs Saturday morning that emphasized the public-private partnership that made its development possible.  Several hundred onlookers, in addition to 400-500 youth soccer players using the facilities as a fund-raiser, paid tribute to the Brandt-Quirk families for their major grants that made the development of the park possible this year rather than many years in the future.  The Quirk Foundation gave $500,000 to the park.  Dr. James Conley, who spoke on behalf of the Brandt-Quirk family, said, “It has been a great satisfaction to us to help develop this park. It is a magnificent gift for the young people of Watertown.  It has been a great undertaking and it would not have happened without the support and efforts of our mayor (Fred Smith) and the city staff.”   WDT

 

2013

11 13       SECURITY AT BRANDT/QUIRK PARK

For the past 10 years, the Brandt/Quirk Park concession stand has been considered a soft and easy target for would-be vandals and burglaries.  However, it will be much harder to break into moving forward thanks to a donation from the Earl and Eugenia Quirk Foundation.

 

The Earl and Eugenia Quirk Foundation has agreed to donate $11,400 to the Watertown Police Department to install a security system at the concession stand, considered a soft and easy target for would-be vandals and burglaries.  The security system will be made up of seven wireless connectivity cameras streaming motion sensitive images to the police department. When the motion sensors are tripped, the system will email or text message the communications center an alert.  Since 2003, the concession stand has been burglarized 14 times, with an estimated loss of $5,449. The stand itself has been damaged 37 times, costing an estimated $10,821.

 

2015

10 01       CLAUDE HELD HONORED

Attorney Claude Held of Watertown, longtime legal counsel for the Earl and Eugenia Quirk Foundation, was honored at a retirement dinner last week at Oconomowoc Lake Club after serving 45 years in that capacity.   The dinner was attended by 25 current and past members of the board of directors of the foundation. A special guest was Virginia Quirk, 93, the only living original member of the board of directors who traveled from Naples, Fla. to attend the event.

 

The foundation was established in 1962.  A few years later Held joined the then Brandt Automatic Cashier Company where he became the company’s legal counsel, a member of the senior management team and a corporate officer.  He also became legal counsel for the family foundation.  In addition to his legal role with the foundation, he was a key confidant of the board members as they sifted through many requests for community funding.

 

He was an integral part of many of the philanthropic projects the foundation has taken over the years.  One of the largest was the development of Brandt/Quirk Park.  WDTimes article

 

 

Cross References:

               Brandt-Quirk House

 

 

 

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