FORT PIERRE — Stanley County High School’s Ole Williamson Field is getting a new facelift. 

The Stanley County School District is undergoing renovations for an artificial turf football field, along with a new track and field surface. The project will cost $4.2 million dollars and the school’s superintendent Dan Baldwin said the upgrades have been discussed in recent years. 

The school board recently approved the upgrades and Stanley County broke ground on the renovations last month. 

“It just took a while to pull the trigger,” Baldwin said. “They knew they wanted the track and we had to fix the field and so we just thought let’s make this permanent.”

Stanley County has a proud football tradition, but was in desperate need of a track and field facility. Baldwin said Stanley County might be the only Class A school without track and field amenities. 

“So there was a long conversation about having a track, and needing to redo the field,” Baldwin added. “So I guess the best way to say it is they thought about doing it the right way.”

Renderings of upgrades coming to the Stanley County High School football field. (Courtesy photo)

Baldwin was previously the superintendent at the Wall School District, which has an artificial turf football field and track that sits along Interstate 90. From his experience at Wall, Baldwin said an artificial turf is more convenient for field maintenance and has been pushing for Stanley County to pursue the same when he joined the school in 2021. 

“For a couple of years we did a lot of facility assessments,” Baldwin said. “I was really pushing to look at all our needs in our district before we jump into something like this.”

Baldwin said the turf field will benefit the entire community of Fort Pierre, while also drawing other events to the facility. 

The project is being conducted by Mammoth Sports Construction, a Kansas-based company that’s built field surfaces and sports facilities across the country. 

Renderings of upgrades coming to the Stanley County High School football field. (Courtesy photo)

The Stanley County High School project is being overseen by John Moisan, who is familiar with the community. 

“He is a Stanley County grad,” Baldwin said. “So he really is invested in making this the best it can be. So that’s good to know.”

As part of the renovations, the home bleachers and concession stands will move to the west side of the field, adjacent to the school’s gymnasium parking lot. 

Baldwin said the project’s target date is to be completed before the first home football game on Aug. 29 vs. Parkston. 

In addition to the football field renovations, the school renovated its basketball court at Parkview gymnasium last year. Baldwin said the facility upgrades will benefit future generations of Stanley County athletics. 

“We like to think we are heading in the right direction,” Baldwin said. “We are putting ourselves back on the map and we will continue with facility improvements through the years here, and make Stanley County proud.”