Growing up in eastern Baltimore County, Johnny Olszewski Jr. understood the “The Point” as an economic engine that employed many fathers and sons at the Bethlehem Steel plant there, and also as an environmental nightmare that left dust in the air and toxins in the Chesapeake Bay and its nearby creeks.

After he became county executive in 2018, Olszewski said, many neighborhood leaders told him the county had neglected their areas. But he said the loudest cries may have come from his hometown precincts, where most of the fields were still industrial zones.

That changed Wednesday as Olszewski returned to the area he’s represented as a state delegate, county executive and now a congressman to dedicate Sparrows Point Park, a $25 million, 22-acre recreation area that includes everything he could have dreamed about as a sports-minded youth.

“There is so much good we were able to do here,” said Olszewski, admiring the steel I-beams at the entryway and a trussed ceiling reminiscent of a bridge. “Every community is worthy of world-class amenities, and now, six years after we began working on it, they have them.”

The park includes includes playing fields, an indoor gym and a new playground. It also features a 16,000-square-foot community center, two accessible community rooms, a walking path and an ADA-accessible fishing pier and kayak launch.

It’s a welcome sign for the community just off Interstate 695 in Edgemere that is still reeling from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse nearly a year ago.

It came together on donated land from Tradepoint Atlantic, which took over the Bethlehem Steel site, and from a design conceived by former parks director Roslyn Johnson. Now the director of parks for Annapolis, Johnson made sure to add a silhouette of the old steel mill skyline as seen from Sollers Point to the community center, as well as various homages to the area’s steel history with the I-beams at the entranceway and the gunmetal gray color of the interior bricks.

“It went from a brownfield to a greenfield,” Johnson said. “All of it, the effort, is turning something that wasn’t so good into something that is amazing.”

A mix of state, local and federal funds contributed to the project, in addition to Tradepoint’s donation. The county contributed more than $12 million in general fund money. The state contributed a total of $7 million: $3 million through a bond initiative, and $4 million in Program Open Space funds from the Department of Natural Resources. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development contributed $3 million, and the American Rescue Plan Act kicked in $1.75 million. In addition, the community has committed $712,500 in donations.

Sparrows Point Park marks a flurry of east side investments under Olszewski’s term. A combined $15 million in county, state and federal funds has preserved 85 acres of Chesapeake Bay waterfront at the former C.P. Crane Plant in Bowleys Quarters. Olszewski’s administration also committed the bulk of the nearly $13 million for the Rosedale Recreation Activity Center and the nearly $12 million for the Middle River Recreation Activity Center. Olszewski also opened the Hazelwood Skate Park, which he funded with $4.3 million in state and county funds.

Olszewski also committed $6.5 million in county funds for renovations at the Rocky Point Golf Course, a departure from past administrations, under which the county’s Revenue Authority raised money for such renovations through bond issues. Olszewski’s administration also spent $2.25 million to acquire 8.5 acres of marshy waterfront property along Cuckold Point Road in Edgemere. The land, slated to become a kayak launch, is a short walk from Olszewski’s waterfront home.

After the announcement of the Cuckold Point property last summer, Councilmen Izzy Patoka, of Pikesville, and Mike Ertel, of Towson, questioned why similar investments weren’t being made in their inner-Beltway districts. Patoka, who coaches basketball, said his team is “always fighting for space” without a dedicated center like the one at Sparrows Point.

Ertel is eager to acquire 13 acres near St. Pius X, a Catholic church in Towson that the Archdiocese of Baltimore recently closed after shuttering the adjacent school several years ago. Towson students are bursting at the seams to find recreational space as the population of the county seat has swelled by 20%, sports teams have almost doubled in number since the 1980s, and more girls are playing lacrosse and field hockey.

County Executive Kathy Klausmeier, who succeeded Olszewski in January, said she did not have specifics regarding acquisitions in the different districts. But her administration, she said, is “always looking for investment for the kids to play and have fun and learn a little bit.”

Parks Director Bob Smith fought back happy tears as he described what Sparrows Point means to him.

“I was one of those growing up here on the peninsula, where we could hear the sounds — the trucks and the trains — that meant home,” he said. “We’re now hoping that the whistles on the field and the kids playing and perhaps even the people will mean home and community again.”