Sad Fire

I hear sirens all the time from my house, but I don't think much of it. I'm only two blocks from both the police and fire headquarters, and emergency vehicles on their way to just about anywhere in the city start off right in my neighborhood. A siren doesn't necessarily mean that anything is going on nearby.

Yesterday morning, however, when I walked the dog, I discovered that the fire trucks I'd been hearing during the night were bad news for the Armoury-Quadrangle historic district. A beautiful home around the corner from me at 25-27 Elliot Street was severely damaged, and a firefighter injured as well.

This home was built in 1872, a year after mine, in the same style. It's a second-Empire style Victorian with slate mansard roof. Originally built as a duplex for Charles Blackstone and Peter Bailey, it was owned for years by Rita McGinnis, an cool octogenarian who sold it only recently when she married. The new absentee owner, Marjorie Fallon of Wellesley, had a bit of it rented out, but didn't give it much TLC.

I spoke with the owner of the Alexander House next door. His place, which gets plenty of TLC although he lives on the Cape, was thankfully not damaged by the fire, although he's got a soggy yard and cellar, and a trampled garden. He says the prospects for rebuilding the Blackstone-Bailey House are dim. Mrs. Fallon had told him the house was riddled with termites anyway and that the bricks were soft (??!). He sounded sorrowful.

If the house comes down, what will take its place? As the land sits right next to the new federal courthouse, it's probably too valuable to remain empty. It's in a local historic district, supposedly the most protected status, but so what. The courthouse is as well, and there's nothing historical or historical-looking about it. So what's to prevent a raised ranch, a Butler building or a Sunglass Hut from coming in? In this city, probably nothing.

Old First Church

Today I attended the last service at Old First Church in Springfield. Founded in 1637, just one year after William Pynchon bought the land it sits on (along with the rest of Springfield, Longmeadow, and Agawam) for "eighteen fatham of wampam, eighteen coates, 18 hatchets, 18 howes, and 18 knifes," it is one of the oldest churches in the country. The current building is the fourth meeting house, built in 1819.

At a meeting last September, the membership of the struggling church voted to cease worship services and programming activities effective January 1, 2008. The congregation only numbered 150, maintenance costs were huge, and the church had depleted almost all of its endowment trying to stay afloat.

The service was very, very sad, with hymns like "We gather here to bid farewell," and weeping members sharing their memories. Everyone concluded that what had made Old First Church special was the people, not the place, and that they would continue to support one another even though the building was closing its doors.

I guess I was the only one there wondering, who speaks for the building? But, in fact, the City of Springfield has just agreed to buy it for $900,000, possibly to use it as a meeting place. If incoming mayor Sarno doesn't decide to tear it down or morph it into a casino, I guess that's good news.

When the first meeting house was built in 1645 (before that, services were probably held in people's homes), there was no separation of church and state. Church services, marriages, funerals, and town meetings alike were held in the meeting house. Throughout the settlement's first century of existence, residents, beginning with John Pynchon, rented out portions of the building for the storage of grain. One of the requirements for service as a deputy of the general court was soundness "in judgment concerning the many points of the Christian religion, as they have been held forth & acknowledged by the generality of the Protestant orthodox writers." So preserving the building and using it for public gatherings of a secular nature makes perfect sense.

Old First Church is about five blocks from my house. Within five miles of me are at least a dozen other churches of the same denomination, United Church of Christ. Although a 20th-century trend toward unity of traditional Christian denominations culminated in 1957 with the formation of the UCC, a counter-trend of formation of new denominations has continued. So you've got the Family Church, the World Tomorrow Church, the Victory Cathedral, the New Creation Discipleship Ministries, the All Nations Church of God, the Glorious Gospel Church, the Temple of Praise...and most of these are in the heart of the city. I pass four different churches when I walk around the block every morning with the dog.

What was special about Old First Church was its social progressivism. It was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and host to abolitionist John Brown. It was host to the city's oldest and largest AA meeting, and Open Pantry's Emergency Food Program and the Loaves and Fishes meal program. It wasn't easy, despite all the churches in town, to find new locations for those last two; as an OP board member, I've got all the program reports to prove it. Let's see who'll come forward to take up the burden now.

Louder Than Words

Here's a good example of preservation in Springfield. This once lovely pediment is an architectural feature of the City-owned building around the corner from me, the boarded-up and neglected former Technical High School. Removed "for preservation" from the building when the back wing was torn from the building a few years ago, it was simply laid on the grass, where it was run over a couple of times by heavy machinery.

The City has a new, much-ballyhooed preservation initiative. Pretty soon the city councilors are going to start blathering about our precious heritage, and I'm sure many will be impressed by the rhetoric. This pediment speaks much louder to me about the breadth and depth of their commitment. Too little, too late, guys!

n.b. to Mayor Ryan: Shovel your city sidewalks, please! My neighbor and I were just out there breaking our backs and bending our shovels, cleaning ours. It's a city ordinance, after all. You're not above slapping code violations on struggling single women for trifles like peeling paint which are not in any way health- or safety-related. This poor neighbor lady, who used up her budget last year on fixing her roof, and who keeps her grounds cleaner and neater than most municipal properties, is complaining about property taxes being raised again. Please show us you're spending on services at least a little of all that $$$ you collect, and not just sticking it in your pockets. Peace.

R.I.P. Haile Carriage House

Today the carriage house on Edwards Street was razed.

There's a fair chance that I know more about the carriage house at this point than anyone else in the city. Neither the archivist at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, nor the chairman of the Historical Commission, nor anyone else I ever spoke with about it had accurate information. This is what I learned from poring over old maps, city directories, and clipping files in the research room of the Museum:

The house and "stable" on Edwards Street were constructed in 1902 for Amelia Chapin Haile and her son, Henry Chapin Haile, at a cost of about $10,000—an expensive house for the time. She was the widow of William Henry Haile, one of the leading citizens of Springfield. William had been Mayor of Springfield, twice Lt. Governor, and came closer than any other citizen of Springfield, before or since, to becoming Governor of the Commonwealth. His father had been Governor of New Hampshire. William was first a manufacturer and then a banker, in addition to his political career. William had constructed a brick rowhouse at 41 Mattoon Street in 1871. That house is still standing, has a plaque on it identifying it as "Haile House,"and is one of the most lavish homes on Mattoon Street. The family's next residence, described as a "mansion," was at 49 Chestnut Street, where George Walter Vincent Smith later lived until his death. Two years after Smith's widow, Belle Townsley Smith, died, the mansion was razed (I believe to make room for the Museum of Fine Arts).

In 1902, after William's death, the Edwards Street house was built on land belonging to the Haile family. Henry followed his father's footsteps, learning first the wool trade, and then becoming vice-president of Hampden Trust. He was an incorporator of the Springfield Hospital, the Springfield Boys Club, and the Springfield Institution for Savings, and a great benefactor of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, among many other things.

George Walter Vincent Smith, as everyone interested in Springfield history knows, bequeathed his entre art collection to the city of Springfield on the condition that they build a museum to house it. Not everyone remembers that he made his considerable fortune in the carriage-building trade, having bought a failed business in New York City and turned it into a flourishing enterprise, Stivers and Smith, from which he was able to retire at age 35.

As for 28 Edwards Street, it saddens me that the beautiful home of so illustrious a citizen of Springfield was torn down, along with several other homes, to make a parking lot. I believe that the then-owner spared the carriage house only because he intended to move it onto his property in Falmouth, but was denied permission by the City. I'd warrant there are very few carriage houses unmoored from their residences, stuck in the middle of downtown parking lots. At the same time, it's serendipitous that it was on land leased to the Springfield Museum Association. I had a vision of the entire lot being acquired (somehow!) by the SMA or by a non-profit organization which would transform it into a carriage house museum, thereby linking it to the legacy of George Walter Vincent Smith, and illuminating an important aspect of transportation history in the Victorian era.

Last week, The Republican reported that the city of Springfield was going to get behind preservation of its wonderful historic properties in a big way. Oh, please. Excuse me while I vomit.