Steve Bandura started coaching kids at Marian Anderson Recreation Center in 1989. Older men in the neighborhood told him the place used to be called McCoach Playground. In the 1930s, '40s and '50s, they said, it was the center of Black baseball, and on Sundays the crowds stood ten deep around the field. Years later a neighbor found a photograph in a book. It showed a 1921 game at McCoach Playground on the field Bandura's teams were using, with spectators in their Sunday best surrounding it on every side. Bandura told the story in a Southern Poverty Law Center oral history.
That field at 740 S. 17th St. is now named in three separate Pennsylvania grant awards: one in October 2024 and two more in the summer and fall of 2026. Together they come to $1,625,000. For most of the Anderson Monarchs' history, keeping the field playable has been partly the team's own job. Public money is now lining up behind the ground the Monarchs have been taking care of.
The team that has been doing the upkeep
Bandura says he went to the center in 1989 as a favor to a college friend whose boss wanted to start a youth organization within walking distance of Center City. In 1993 he signed up about 160 first through third graders and created the in-house Jackie Robinson Baseball League. In 1995 he took a travel team into the Devlin League, then the top city league. He named the team after the Kansas City Monarchs, the Negro Leagues club Jackie Robinson played for before Brooklyn.
The program built a national profile from there. Its first barnstorming tour, in 1997, marked 50 years since Robinson broke the color line. The team visited 10 cities in 13 days on the way to the Negro Leagues museum in Kansas City. A 2015 tour through the Deep South focused on civil rights history. Several Monarchs also played in the 2014 Little League World Series. Mo'ne Davis became the first girl to pitch a shutout in series history and the first girl to win a game there.
The organization's staff page lists Amos Huron as executive director and Bandura as founder and program director. In June 2026, Huron told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the Monarchs are constantly putting their own money into upkeep of their field at Marian Anderson. In the same story, the Inquirer reported that the Monarchs' Philadelphia Stars teams play and practice at Ashburn Field in FDR Park. MLB is replacing that field with synthetic turf and new drainage through its All-Star Legacy program. Huron called the Ashburn project an important first step toward closing the gap between Philadelphia's fields and those in the suburbs.
The field on 17th Street is the one in the neighborhood, and it's the one the team has been paying to maintain.
Three awards, two programs, one field
Since late 2024, the field has appeared in three separate state funding announcements, two from the Local Share Account and one from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.
| Date | Program | Announced or listed by | Amount | Stated purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 22, 2024 | Local Share Account | PA DCED approved-projects list | $525,000 | "Field Revitalization at the Marian Anderson Recreation Center" |
| July 22, 2026 | Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program | State Sen. Nikil Saval | $750,000 | Redevelopment of "the beloved and well-used field" |
| Sept. 15, 2026 | Local Share Account | State Rep. Ben Waxman | $350,000 | "To install turfgrass" |
Both Local Share Account awards appear on the state's approved-projects list under PIDC Financing Corp. The list records the 2026 award as "Marian Anderson Field Improvements." Rep. Waxman's release explains that its grants went to PIDC Financing Corp. on behalf of each listed entity. The program is funded by gaming revenue and run by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. The RACP award came from a different source, the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. Sen. Saval's announcement placed the field alongside the Franklin Square playground and the Kimmel Center in a $28.65 million round for the First Senatorial District.
Waxman's September list includes one more item close to Graduate Hospital: $150,000 to the Schuylkill River Development Corp. for a bank rehabilitation project along the Schuylkill Banks trail. That's the same riverfront route we covered in our piece on the swing bridge to Bartram's Garden.
Two organizations have the site on their project lists
The field is part of a larger property. The City describes Marian Anderson Recreation Center as a 3.4-acre site with a playground, the ball field, a pool and basketball courts. Its six-room building holds a gymnasium, a boxing gym, a dojo, a computer room and multipurpose rooms.
The center is a site in Rebuild, the City's program for rec centers, parks and libraries. Rebuild reports each project to City Council in one of four stages:
- Administrative & Pre-Design
- Engagement & Design
- Under or Preparing for Construction
- Received Improvements
In Rebuild's council report dated April 1, 2026, Marian Anderson sat in the first stage. The center's project page now shows "Design and Community Engagement" and names Rebuild as project lead. In Rebuild's description of the design stage, it gathers input through surveys, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, public meetings, workshops and pop-up outreach at community events.
The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation also lists Marian Anderson Recreation Center among its park projects, with the status "Under Construction." The Foundation builds synthetic-surface Youth Development Parks. Its parks FAQ explains how its projects usually work:
- A typical 45,000-square-foot park costs about $1.5 million, though costs vary with size and scale.
- The local partner has to secure at least 50 to 60 percent of the total cost, and the Foundation generally works to secure 40 to 50 percent.
- All funds raised go to the Foundation before construction begins.
- Fields, Inc. builds every park.
- After completion, the local partner operates and maintains the facility and makes sure sports programs run on the field.
For scale, the three state awards on the table above total $125,000 more than the Foundation's typical price for an entire park.
The finished version, a few blocks south
Chew Playground at 1800 Washington Ave. is what a completed Rebuild field project looks like in this neighborhood. Rebuild lists it as "Received Improvements." The work included:
- 18 inches of soil remediation across the entire site, so athletic activity could resume
- A new sodded football field with new goal posts
- Updated benches and bleachers
- A regraded baseball infield with new infield mix
- New fencing inside and around the site
- New trees
Chew and Marian Anderson both sit in Council District 2. In the April report, Chew's line reads "Received Improvements" and Marian Anderson's reads "Administrative & Pre-Design."
The name on the center carries its own neighborhood history. The National Park Service identifies 762 S. Martin St. as the Marian Anderson House. Anderson's mother bought it in 1924, and the singer used it as her primary residence and office while her career grew. Hidden City reported that Anderson first sang at Union Baptist Church's original location at 12th and Bainbridge. The congregation moved to 1910 Fitzwater St. in 1916. More Graduate Hospital places and projects are collected in our neighborhood guide.
Rebuild takes questions about the Marian Anderson project at [email protected].
The Stawasz Group keeps track of projects like the Marian Anderson field, from grant announcements through Rebuild's project stages, because they change the blocks around them. If you'd like to talk about what the work around Marian Anderson Rec could mean for your corner of Graduate Hospital, Contact Us.
