Page 10 - BusinessWest March 17, 2025

Springfield’s Central Library will be among the highlights of the bus tour.
Greek Cultural Center — four of the 2,509 libraries built between 1883 and 1929 with money donated by Scottish-American busi- nessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Built in the early 1900s, those four libraries, and the others on the tour, are blasts from the past that can still be enjoyed today. And so, in many respects, is this bus tour, called “Pages of the Past,” said Erica Swallow, president of the SPT.
Indeed, the once-annual Bus Tour of Historic Springfield, a part- nership between the SPT and Peter Pan Bus Lines, is back after a nearly 30-year hiatus, and with many goals in mind, said Swallow, adding that this endeavor is a collaboration between several groups, including the SPT, the Springfield Museums, the Springfield City Library, and Peter Pan.
As for goals, she listed everything from showcasing those libraries to cultivating the next generation of preservationists in Springfield.
“The trust has been trying to bring in the next generation of preservationists,” Swallow explained, adding that new pro- grams like the libraries tour, as well as existing initiatives such as house tours and walking tours (more on them later), are effective ways to bring people into Springfield’s past, while also celebrating the present and getting them involved.
Danielle Veronesi, senior director of Marketing at Peter Pan Bus Lines, who was approached by Swallow about resur- recting the bus tour, agreed, noting that Peter Pan, which has a lengthy history in Springfield and this region, is enthusiastic about its role in the partnership presenting the tour.
“We’re proud to be part of Springfield history, and also proud of the role we’ve played in enabling others to learn that history and better appreciate the city and many of its archi- tectural landmarks,” she told BusinessWest. “That’s why we wanted Peter Pan to be a partner in this initiative.”
Chapter and Verse
Rachel Gravel, manager of Adult & Youth Information for the Springfield Libraries, said the building of the Carnegie libraries rep- resented a major shift in how libraries were perceived — and used by the public.
“The library went from being a membership-only establishment to being open to the public, open to the community,” she said, not- ing that, until that time, most libraries, including Springfield’s, were private. “To have four of those buildings in Springfield that really symbolized access to knowledge, and access to betterment, is really special.”
This shift will be among the many talking points on the tour, said Swallow, adding that the program is designed to provide insight into Springfield’s most historically and architecturally significant libraries, offering a glimpse into their storied pasts and lasting impact on the city’s cultural and educational landscape.
Benson agreed, noting that her research into the libraries that
“The library went from being a membership-only establishment to being open to the public, open to the community. To have four of those buildings
in Springfield that really symbolized access to knowledge, and access to betterment, is really special.”
10 MARCH 17, 2025
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