At a recent press conference, the Springfield Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management Department announced a selected site for a newly-constructed fire station to serve multiple neighborhoods.
Standing on the triangular lot where Vermont Street meets White Street, not far from Sumner Avenue, officials including the fire commissioner proclaimed that the location was best suited, out of all the possibilities surveyed, to reach all the neighborhoods in need at the fastest pace. Other considerations included cost of construction.
The old fire station at Oakland and Dickinson Streets, a personal neighborhood familiar for me and a stabilizing presence at the intersection, will be emptied out, and has an uncertain future. But that’s not yet a matter of public concern regarding preservation issues. Rather, what’s emerged as a community concern is what’s already on the lot selected for a new station.
Some have grumbled on the Springfield MassLive.com forum that the new site was chosen for political reasons based on the owner of the property. Still others wondered aloud about the future of the existing building (pictured at left) on the site, which is a historic one-room schoolhouse: as avid Springfield historian Ralph Slate has now pointed out in a blog post on the matter, the last of its kind in the city.
News pieces on the announcement have said simply that a “multi-family apartment building” or “brick residential building” on the site would have to be demolished.
Determined to find out more about this property, Slate visited and photographed it, able to demonstrate that at least going by its exterior, the currently residential building is in really great shape, and has a ton of charm along with a load of history. Slate wonders if maybe the building can be saved, rather than razed outright, or if maybe a better location can be found for a new station. Such a decision is currently in the hands of Mayor Charles Ryan (pictured above, at right, in front of the Oakland Street station last spring).
Slate’s efforts appear to have prompted Springfield City Council candidate John Lysak to issue a press release on the matter. One of those rare MassLive.com forum visitors who posts under his own name, rather than anonymously, Lysak is clearly monitoring the online activity and has taken this up as a matter where he might either have an influence or at least gain some community support. His release in full is below.
LYSAK SUPPORTS SCHOOLHOUSE PRESERVATION
John A. Lysak, a candidate for a seat on the Springfield City Council, says that the city should do whatever it can to save the Old White Street School from demolition to make way for a new firehouse.
“It has come to my attention that this building [the school] is destined to be condemned,” said Lysak. “While I understand the need for the firehouse to be in a central location, I feel that the schoolhouse should be protected.” Lysak says that even if there is no other location for the firehouse, there are other alternatives then the destruction of the schoolhouse.
As an example of how the city can progress while still maintaining historic buildings, Lysak pointed to the efforts of the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton. In that case, the school needed to expand in an area already occupied by the Eugene Wood Carriage House [pictured below]. Instead of tearing down the carriage house, the school sold it for $1 on the condition that the new owners moved the building to another location. The carriage house was purchased earlier this year.
“This is something that our city should be trying to do before we condemn buildings of this nature,” said Lysak. “In the past, a short-sighted city government has torn down Victorian mansions to erect parking lots and highways in the name of progress. It is time that we stop selling out our history.”
For more on this developing story including some discussion on what to do, go here.
