Page 9 - BusinessWest March 17, 2025

Pages of the Past
Bus Tour Revives Tradition, Puts Libraries in Spotlight
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
“The trust has been trying to bring in the next generation of preservationists.”
Kate Benson says she doesn’t know why the original Springfield Library, opened in 1871, was eventually torn down.
The impressive, Gothic-style structure was only 40 years old when its replacement, the central library that still stands on State Street today, was opened, she said, adding that it was moved a few hundred yards to make way for the new library and serve the city while it was being built. And, in theory, it could have been moved again to another location
“We don’t really know why it came down — and there’s no real record of why,” said Benson, a special-education team chair in Chicopee by day, and also a member of the Springfield Preservation Trust (SPT) and self-described “history addict,” adding that it doesn’t really matter why the landmark was demolished. What does matter is that a piece of the city’s past and an architectural treasure can now be seen only in grainy photos and color postcards, which were very popular in the day.
It is a desire to enable the public to fully appreciate simi-
lar structures — and to perhaps ensure that they don’t suffer
the same fate as the original library — that has prompted
the SPT and several partnering organizations to come
together to create a bus tour (set for Friday, April 12, with
Benson as the tour guide) of the central library and several branches, including four structures known simply as the Carnegie libraries.
These are the central library, the Forest Park branch, the Indian Orchard branch, and the former Memorial Square branch, now the
The original Springfield Library has been lost to history, but the planned bus tour is designed to generate appreciation for the libraries still standing.
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