Page 61 - BusinessWest August 7, 2023

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This aerial photo shows the former Square One property, at lower right, the day after the tornado ripped through Springfield’s South End in 2011. Photo by John Suchocki The Republican
Building on W
a Legacy
Square One Moves Forward with New Facility in Springfield’s South End
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
hile early-education provider
Square One has a presence in several Springfield neighbor- hoods and serves residents city-wide, it has always been
“We’ve always been anchored in the South End. And it doesn’t take too much effort to walk into the South End and see that it is in woeful need of some attention.”
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associated with the South End.
That’s where it’s been headquartered since
the beginning, in 1883, when it was founded as Springfield Day Nursery by Harriett Merriam, the daughter of Charles Merriam, of Merriam- Webster dictionary fame, to meet a critical need for childcare among the city’s working families, said Dawn DiStefano, the agency’s president and CEO.
“We’ve always been anchored in the South End,” she said. “And it doesn’t take too much effort to walk into the South End and see that it is in woeful need of some attention.”
The bond with the South End was — and is — so strong that, when the agency’s facilities at 947 Main St. were heavily damaged by the June 1, 2011 tornado that devastated a large swath of that neighborhood and eventually razed, then- President and CEO Joan Kagan quickly pledged