ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — The northern Illinois city that figured prominently in the movie “A League of Their Own” may be getting a museum of its own.
The Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously this week to grant a special-use permit to build a $10 million International Women’s Baseball Museum at Beyer Park on the city’s southeast side, the Rockford Register Star reported.
The city and the league gained international fame in 1992 when the movie starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna was released. At the park, Beyer Stadium was the actual home of the real Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and 1950s.
To put the museum on the site, the Rockford Park District, which owns Beyer Park, plans to sell an acre of land at the north end of the park to the International Women’s Baseball Center.
The vote came after a group called Friends of Beyer Stadium urged the zoning board to find a different site for the museum — an effort the group says will continue as the issue moves to a Rockford City Council committee on Monday and the full council on Oct. 4.
