Breaking ground on a new unified Pawtucket High School; farewell to McCoy Stadium

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — The City of Pawtucket broke ground for a new high school project on the site of the old McCoy Stadium Thursday.

The new unified Pawtucket High School will be the largest and most expensive school project in Rhode Island’s history.

The new school is uniting Tolman High School and Shea High School into one campus and will be home to around 2,100 students.

“It really comes with mixed emotions as we go through a transition and we look at our history,” Mayor Donald Grebien said. “The former McCoy Stadium was something that meant so much to so many people here in our community.”

Closing one door and opening another was bittersweet for many.

“I actually got a baseball tattoo for my grandfather, we came to McCoy for his birthday and it was a huge thing,” Lincoln resident Amy Graves said. “McCoy has been a huge part of my life.”

The stadium was formerly home to the Pawtucket Red Sox, who moved to Worcester after lengthy negotiations.

The stadium has been vacant since 2019.

“A lot of fireworks and a lot of memories,” Pawtucket resident Nick Martin said. “I am sad to see it go.”

One of the project executives from Shawmut, the company heading up the construction of the school project, is a Pawtucket native, which makes the project extra special.

“I graduated from Shea and I spent a lot of my childhood here,” Project Executive Gordon Zaniol said. “It’s amazing that I have the opportunity to build a new school.”

Officials said the school was set to be open for students in fall of 2029.