Latrobe’s Legion Keener Park is no longer a hidden gem of the community.

Officials this week unveiled a new illuminated sign that points the way for visitors to reach the park and adjacent Memorial Stadium — by turning right from Jefferson Street onto Chestnut Street.

“It’s something we’ve needed for a long time,” Latrobe Mayor Eric Bartels said of the park sign. Since the park’s many amenities aren’t visible from Jefferson Street, he said, those not familiar with the recreational site may have driven past the access point unawares.

“The sign is really eye-catching. It helps you understand that you’re entering a park,” said Craig Shevchik, executive director of Greater Latrobe Parks and Recreation, which organizes activities at Legion Keener.

The park is home to a public swimming pool, ball fields, a dek hockey rink, a playground, a band shell, picnic facilities and a walking trail. The stadium hosts Greater Latrobe School District athletic events and an annual pre-season practice by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The new park sign is positioned to be visible from three blocks away — at Jefferson and Main streets, where motorists arrive as they head north on Route 981 into downtown Latrobe.

“We moved a telephone pole 10 feet, so you can see the sign from Main Street all the way down; there’s an open line of sight,” said Jarod Trunzo, executive director of nonprofit Latrobe Community Revitalization Program, one of the key groups involved in the park gateway project.

The sign joins other adjacent improvements along Chestnut Street, including a pedestrian walkway leading toward the park, a row of lighted bollards and nine new trees that have been planted there.

“People have cut across that area all the time for events at the park,“ Trunzo said. “Now, with a sidewalk for them to use, it’s that much more inviting.”

The mature tree species include paperbark maple, known for bark that peels but adheres to the trunk, and green vase zelkova — which is resistant to drought and Dutch elm disease, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden.

In the coming spring, work is planned on the next phase of the project: installation of thermoplast crosswalks with a herringbone brick pattern similar to ones in place at other key Latrobe intersections.

This project received $200,000 in funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, through the Latrobe Foundation, in partnership with Saint Vincent College and the Be My Neighbor Committee.

The committee’s goals include strengthening the Latrobe community’s connections to recreation, improving the local housing stock and boosting economic development. The committee includes representatives from the college, the city, the school district, Independence Health, the Latrobe Foundation and the the Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The park gateway project dovetails with the city’s recent update of curb ramps along Jefferson to meet modern standards for handicapped accessibility.

The park sign features many design elements similar to those of a town welcome sign positioned along Main Street opposite from the Loyalhanna Creek bridge.

Among those involved in creating and installing the park sign were graduates of the masonry program at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center, Special Lite and Blue Sky Sign Company. Allegheny Arborscapes and Loyalhanna Environmental handled work on the trees, walkway and site grading.

Trees grow in Latrobe

At the same time work wrapped up on the park gateway, the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program partnered with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to plant more new shade trees, adding visual appeal for motorists and pedestrians in two other areas of the city.

According to Trunzo, 12 trees have been added on either side of Main Street, heading into downtown from Loyalhanna Creek, while 15 new trees have replaced older dying ones along the Lincoln Avenue walking trail, between Fairmont and James streets.

“The trail keeps growing in popularity,” Trunzo said. “Some local sports teams even use it for their training.”

The trees on Main Street, including hornbeam and flowering cherry, were selected because of their tolerance for winter road salt and growth pattern that will keep them from extending into traffic, he said.

The trees along the trail have more room to grow and include a diversity of species — among them, honey locust, American linden, dawn redwood, Carolina silverbell and the katsura, which is native to Japan.

The Latrobe tree plantings are part of a larger conservancy program to pursue watershed conservation, urban forestry and land protection in several Westmoreland County communities — another effort supported by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

“We engage with the community and make sure trees are going in where they’re wanted,” said Brian Crooks, community forester with the conservancy. “Since 2008, we’ve planted more than 40,000 trees using this model.”

Other towns that have benefited from the program include Jeannette, Monessen, New Kensington and Arnold.

Along the Latrobe trail, Crooks said, “It will make it more like an arboretum feel. People will be able to interact with a lot of different species in a very short area.”

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