4.30.2024 Historical Commission

all right uh good evening everyone and thank you very much for joining uh the special meeting of the Fall River historical commission um it is Tuesday April 30th 2024 it is 6: p.m. um pursu to the open meeting law any person any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are

being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible may I get a roll call please Ashley dunia present Jonathan Lima present Lista block present Rick Mani present Connie Soul present Jo um before we go into the presentation is there any citizens input for tonight okay thank you um so we have uh students here from and uh Dr Elaine

styles from Roger Williams University uh from the preservation studies program um this is in regards to the Steep Rook Form B project uh which was originally uh proposed to the historical commission by the late Al Lima uh who in his lifetime became a champion of historic preservation here in Fall River um after his passing um the project was uh moved forward by Rick menini our vice chair um

and this is to update the the form bees uh which is a inventory form used by the Massachusetts historical Commission um in the early 1980s late 1970s uh the city was surveyed as part of uh the national park services uh program with the national register uh through the mass Massachusetts historical commission and a lot of the form BS have not been updated since um so with new research uh

research meth methods and um certainly the digi digitization of Records we have uh uh a greater power to get this information brought to light and as such the massach Massachusetts historical commission has also updated their research requirements for the Forbes uh so I would like to turn it over to your group if you wouldn't mind introducing yourselves as well please sure um I'm elain Styles I have the pleasure of

teaching historic preservation at Roger Williams University my name is Georgia Z house and I am a grad student in the preservation program um my name is Aon L Monaco and I'm a current senior um with a masters in architecture but also minoring and preservation uh my name is Elizabeth Brown and I am finishing my first year of the preservation Masters program at Roger Williams wonderful thank

you hosting us today and also to um say thank you to Rick manini and so Micha La basier who are our points of contact with the city of Fall River on this project um we couldn't have asked for more supportive and um enthusiastic Partners in this in this work uh every time we went out in the field with the students Rick came out to see us and check and see how we were

doing which was excellent um and uh so the work that you're about to see is the product of one of our core classes in the curriculum at Roger Williams University in historic preservation it's our building and site documentation and research methods class um and the students worked did a tremendous amount of work um we have three of our students here today representing that work who've

just introduced themselves um so thank you for this opportunity to share the work and for uh giving our students an opportunity to share what they've learned um and I will now turn it over to them thank you in the fall of 2023 our documentation and research methods class was tasked with conducting a limited scope cultural resource survey to identify and evaluate potential historic

properties in the Steep Brook section of Fall River that may be eligible for the state and National registers of historic places our class surveyed 32 total properties four of the selected buildings were already listed on the national register as part of the Fall River multiple resource area in 1983 and six additional buildings were previously surveyed by the Massachusetts historical

Commission in the 1970s however all of these buildings lacked sufficient documentation the remaining 22 buildings we surveyed were selected due to their apparent age as well as their proximity to both the commercial hub of steep br Brook located around Wilson Road and the original steep Brook settlement north of Wilbur Street our class updated or completed massachusett historical commission building forms for each of

the 32 properties along with national register of historic places criteria statement forms when applicable the survey process began in September of 2023 with fieldwork in steep Brook where we photographed the selected properties we undertook an investigation of the property's owner and occupancy histories using Fall River City directories US Census Data and for some properties deed

research building permit records were used to investigate properties physical histories we also used historic maps and photographs newspaper articles and secondary sources to research individual properties as well as the Steep Brook neighborhood as a whole these sources were gathered from the Fall River Public Library the Fall River registry of deeds the North Bristol County registry of

deeds the Fall River Building Department as well as multiple online databases such as ancestry.com and the dery high school's key Library database the following presentation will begin with an overview of steep Brooks development and the significant historical contexts associated with the neighborhood we will then examine the class's survey findings covering buildings already listed on the

national register buildings deemed eligible for listing on the national register buildings that could contribute to a potential historic district and buildings of Interest the presentation will conclude with recommendations for further research and planning the area of Fall River now known as Ste steep Brook grew and developed as a result of its occupation by native tribes later European settlement and its

many Industries and modes of production made possible by its diverse and Rich natural environment the Steep Rook area was initially inhabited by the Picassa and tribes before King Philip's War virtually exterminated the groups Paving the way for European settlement soon after Fall River 1680 settlement the settlement of steep Brook mimicked that of previous indigenous inhabitants resulting in the building along the

Taunton River and its tributaries for settlers Reliance on the river for marine food sources trade transportation and fertile agricultural land on the river banks agriculture was the base of the Colonial economy and steep Brook acted as a service area to the agricultural land around its Post Road steep Brook is the initial administrative and religious Center of Fall River in the site of its first

townhouse during the Industrial period production shifted from steep Brook to water power sites on the uh ketan River um resulting in the 1836 relocation of the townhouse from steep Brook to the new downtown Center this new center for Commerce and Industry with a focus on textiles attracted an influx of Portuguese Irish German and French Canadian immigrants to work in the Mills

over the course of the late 19th century census research illustrates that some of these immigrants lived in steep Brook and worked at the local Mills amongst other occupations this influx sparked a surge in new residential and commercial construction downtown including a smaller surge in residential construction in steep Brook in the last quarter of the 19th century as steep Brook began to move

into the industrial period its economic Focus shifted away from Agriculture and other Ventures such as clay Mining and Ice harvesting became more prominent clay was discovered in the beds of steep Brook in the 1840s by barnabus Clark who arranged for it to be mined and shipped to places like the Presby stove lining company in Taunton where it was turned into fire brick Cupa brick stone wear

glass tile blast furnace and Forge bricks iced harvesting and dealing had been present in steep Brook since the early 1800s due to the three small ponds in close proximity to the down the town center but it wasn't until the industrial period and the demand for transporting perishable G Goods by rail that the ice harvested and steep Brook was used by more than just the local steep Brook residents steep Brook is

also also offered small scale Commerce such as the Green Dragon inn that was opened by Orin Eddie in the mid 1800s barnabas' Clark Barnabas Clark's blacksmith shop and a Warf built by job T Wilson at the end of Wilson Road where trade ships were constructed in Goods local to steep Brook were shipped to other cities early modes of transportation in steep Brook went handin hand with the

transportation of goods to be traded from 1738 to the early 19th century multiple Wares were constructed in the neighborhood such as Wilson's Warf which served as the building sites of many ships and ports and as ports for ships to engage in local trade with the Advent of steam power a number of steep Brook residents became Steamboat captains and workers there were also fairies which

transported goods from Wares and steep Brook in the mid 19th century after the establishment of Mills early ear in the century other fairies including the fall riverline steam ships transported people to various cities in the region such as New York and Boston Land Transportation began with stage coaches the Fall River Stage Coach Services that was started in 1808 took passengers from Fall River to Boston

Providence and Newport and had a stop at the green dragon in at steep Brook James H Wilson began to running his Steam and electric powered omnius service in 1875 to bridge the North and South parts of town until the Advent of the electric street car through most 19th century though most 19th century Transportation types were based in downtown F River they branched into the neighborhood of steep

Brook exemplified by Colonel Richard boran's 1844 establishment of the Fall River Railroad with a route to Boston that was partially built over steep Brook the railroad merged with the old colony Railroad in 1854 connecting Fall River to Boston New Bedford Cape Cod and Providence aate station in steep Brook was established by 1870 these railroad lines were instrumental in the transportation of goods and people in

1880 Globe Street Railways laid Charley tracks along North Main Street a service run by both cars and horses until the successful 1892 testing of the electric street car the street car lines were used by Mill workers and Fall River residents also used the street cars to get places of recreation north of the Town Center in neighborhoods such as steep Brook demonstrating the growth of suburbanization and Recreation

recreation in steep Brook consisted of places such as Forest till Gardens which had an amusement Hall skating rink Dance Hall Restaurant Clam House a hotel and even a theater at one point another point of attraction was Riverview Gardens which was introduced in 1895 and was advertised as a cool and delightful Shore resort and offered music dancing Amusement Games catering and many fun

community events until it sale in 1926 a final example bin Beach which was a popular destination for swimming lessons swimming races and other events there was originally only one Public School in steep Brook in 1811 until a second was built in 1878 both suffered from lack of resources the wly school opened in 1912 to accommodate students from other overcrowded schools and ironically stands empty today steep

Brook was the early center of the land acquired in the Freetown purchase and the community EST established the First Congregational Church Circle 1714 on North Main Street in steep Brook in 1803 Fall River separated from Freetown and the first congregation relocated to downtown Fall River in a new structure built in 1816 steep Brook residents established the north Christian Church in 1842 and the

North Methodist Episcopal Church in 1854 after the center of town shifted from steep Brook to downtown Fall River Federal style buildings are one of the earliest surviving architectural Styles found in steep Brook Victorian Styles like the italianate queen an and Greek Revival houses along North Main Street were built by men who had come into Prosperity from the textile mills of the mid 19th century double houses and

multifam houses emerg for the working

class so now that we've discussed some of the broader historical Trends in steep Brook andf fall River we'd like to look at some specifics that stood out to us to start steep Brook features a significant number of surviving pre-industrial and colonial era houses although their historic Integrity is in some cases compromised their survival is a testament to steep Brook's lack of Urban Development unlike the areas

closest to downtown Fall River steep has seen more modest commercial and Industrial activity which contribut to the character of the area steep Brook stands out from the rest of Fall River where the majority of pre-industrial properties have been demolished while surveying steep Brook we discovered that a number of the area's commercial buildings have been lost steep Brook was a commercial center in

the late 19th century and early 20th century and these losses have severely impacted the Integrity of its character we believe the picture on the right is where a Wilson Road intersect North Main Street which was the commercial center of the neighborhood the photo on the left is of the fer slip at the end of Wilson Road which was previously used as a Warf by Barnabas clerk as mentioned before Barnabas clerk

had a number of commercial and industrial buildings spr acrost steep Brook his Gris Bill blacksmith shop and Ice House have all been lost to us at one point there have been six markets and a post office in steep Brook but these structures along with the railroad deot have all been lost additionally steep Brook has lost parts of its character that attracted people to it from other areas most of

these have already been discussed such as blin's Beach and Riverview Gardens during our research of steep Brook we found some interesting stories the North Methodist Episcopal Church which will be disc in more detail later lost its steeple and was rehabilitated into a single family dwelling James H Wilson who lived in the Green Dragon inn and founded an omnius service to transport citizens between the North and

South sides of the city was a descendant of Roger Wilson who helped fit out the Mayflower since his records have shown us that he eventually died in Butler asylum in Providence one of the properties we researched twice caught fire from a passing train Bound for Boston as well so of the 32 buildings researched by this class there are already four that are currently listed on the national

register 3775 North Main Street is a federal style Cape style it's a federal Cape style building built Circa 1800 it is named for William Collins who acted as a master Mariner in steep Brook from the early to mid 19th century it was nominated under Criterion a for its association with the early development of steep Brook as an Agricultural Center as well as Criterion C because it is a

rare survival of a pre-industrial building in steep Brook 35 38 North Main Street is the north Christian Congregational Church built in 1842 in the Greek Revival Style with Gothic Revival features the church has lost much of its Integrity over the years but is a very surviving Church within the neighborhood and is one of the few remaining public buildings in steep Brook the church was nominated under

Criterion a for its early association with steep Brook's religious history and under Criterion C for its Greek and Gothic Revival features 3063 North Main Street was built in the mid to late 18th century and is thought to be one of fall River's oldest buildings the house was nominated under Criterion a for being one of the earliest remaining houses in Fall River and under criterian sea for its Georgian architectural

features 2634 North Main Street is also known as The Squire William Barnabas Kennedy house the house was built in the federal style in 1806 and may have served as a station on the Underground Railroad though further researchers needed to confirm this this house was nominated under Criterion a for its association with pre-industrial development in Fall River and under criter Ian SE is a distinctive example

of the federal

style of the 32 buildings we surveyed we determined that four more of them may be eligible for listing on the national register 2585 North Main Street other know otherwise known as the William J Wy school is a classical Revival style nine room Schoolhouse constructed in 1911 to help remedy overcrowding in the steep Brook Border City and Bard in schools the William J Wy School appears eligible

for listing on the national register for its association with a pattern of school Construction in early 20th century Fall River as well as for its architectural significance as a well preserved early 20th century classical Revival Schoolhouse 3100 North Main Street called the mercy Winslow House was constructed by the wissow family as a single family house around 1900 the mercy Winslow House appears

eligible for listing for its architectural significance as a well preserved Queen and style residence from the term turn of the 20th century 3562 North Main Street was constructed in the early 19th century and appears eligible for listing under Criterion c as a rare surviving half half house featuring minimal alterations and a fully surviving facade 4042 North Main Street was constructed in 1785 and

was owned by several generations of farmers including Revolutionary War Italian Captain Jil Hathaway who reportedly built the house it serves as an example of the early linear development of steep Brook that we still see today this home appears to be eligible for the national register under Criterion a for its association with the pre-industrial agricultural practices of steep Brook as well as under Criterion c

as an example of the federal style we only surveyed a small number of properties in the area and did not fully research steep Brook's eligibility for listing as a historic district however the next section of the presentation discusses properties in the neighborhood that could contribute to a potential historic district 3576 North Main Street is potentially eligible as a contributing property to a historic

district under Criterion a for its association with The pre-industrial Agrarian development of steep Brook and under Criterion c as a rare 18th century survival an example of the cape form in the neighborhood though its modernized feature and material updates diminish its historic Integrity the house at 3325 North Main Street built around 1800 could contribute to a historic district as an

example of the pre-industrial federal style in Fall River though it has also lost Integrity over the years thank you some of the buildings we surveyed while not apparently eligible for listing on the national register shed light on the history of the neighborhood many of them have very little Integrity but still weren't mention 3079 North Main Street was constructed around 1910

and it consisted of tenement housing and a Basement Store that sold products such as ice cream soda candy groceries and tobacco into the 1930s the house at 3247 North Main Street is associated with the major industrial ventures of Barnabas Clark which reflect the pattern of development in steep Brook during the last half of the 19 Century Clark was the first person to live in this house which is

located just to the west of the clay pits that he mined while living here after discovering client deepbrook he was also prominently involved in Fall River's late 19th century ice stealing business Clark's blacksmith business was located right next door to his house to the South 3262 North Main Street was known as the Green Dragon inn the house was owned by Joe Wilson a prominent member

of the community who founded the North Methodist Episcopal Church petitioned for a new Road in steep Brook and constructed a Warf at the end of Wilson Road the house was later owned and lived in by Barnabas Clark the house sat at the center of steep Brook's commercial district and was owned and lived in by some of the most prominent members of the community it is possible that the house is older than it appears and

underwent significant physical changes at some point in history therefore it should be researched further 3282 North Main Street served as a post office from the 1870s to the early 1900s when it became a market first known as the James a Blake market and then Wilson Road Market through the 1950s at some point in the 1970s the property was renovated into a home and is now Apartments the building at 3338 North

Main Street is the North Methodist Episcopal Church it is related to two historical Trends in Fall River's history the North Methodist Episcopal Church was built in between the second and third great Awakenings which helped grow the Methodist faith in fall River it also attests to the building of Greek Greek Revival and italianate houses on North Main Street in the mid 19th century as a direct result to further

economic wealth and population growth that came from Fall Rivers's textile mills the Williams Z Kennedy house at 3484 and 3494 North Main Street was built Circa 1897 the property seems to have always been a multif family house the house was owned and occupied by William Z Kennedy a first mate who worked on the Fall River Line of steam ships for over 40 years the original property seems to

have extended down to the river where he owned a sailboat for recreational use when William died all the ships on the Fall River Line lowered their Flags to half

mast there are several historic contexts in steep Brook that warrant further study more research could be done into the Commerce and smallscale Industry that was present along along North Main Street especially at the Town Center intersection with Wilson Road there was also not a lot known about the ice harvesting Industries clay mining or agriculture we know that these industries were present but don't know

many details about them like what crops were farmed here where the Farms were actually located or if there's still evidence of the Farms here for example more research into why a train depot was built in steep Brook would help to explain the importance of steep Brook in the terms of the Old Colony Railroad and the New York New Haven and Harford Railroad Company it is also un clear as

the Steep Brook's importance in turn of Maritime Industries though there was evidence that the railroad ran through steep brook or that Wares were built for trade it is unclear as to what was used for transportation of goods or what was used for people or what was actually transported more research on the various recreational beaches and entertainment areas that once serve not only steep

Brook but Fall River as well would give us more information on the character and life in steep Brook this could also be accomplished with Research into more property specific queries such as the connection between the canedy house and the underground rail Road or how buildings such as the north Episcopal Methodist Church serve the community finally research should be done on the greater events in Fall

River's history such as the hurricane of 1938 or the closing of the textile mills and how steep Brook was affected comparing the developments in steep Brook with Fall River and other local areas would also be beneficial the research conducted for this presentation is just a starting point for surveying in this area we recommend that a larger and much more comprehensive study be conducted which

would also include properties that are now age eligible for the national register we mentioned some properties that could contribute to a national register historic district but we did not do further work to establish potential District boundaries or other contributors it is recommended that an evaluation of steep Brook and its eligibility as a historic district be further researched there's also more

work that could be done to bring awareness to the Steep Brook District interviewing residents and former residents of the neighborhood and collecting oral histories from them is one way to not only bring awareness to the importance of the neighborhood to the residents but also to shed light on an important component of fall River's history additionally redesignating or branding the neighborhood as steep Brook

would serve to continue its narrative and to connect the current neighborhood with its past to spread awareness about steep Brook the research that has been conducted on the neighborhood through this effort could be made accessible to the public through the efforts of the historical commission perhaps in partnership with the Fall River Public Library or the Fall River Historical Society the owners of the studied

historic houses in steep Brook could also be sent the research compiled on their homes other ways to raise awareness include a marker program for the historic properties and annual tours highlighting these properties and the history of the general neighborhood in steep Brook we would like to thank you all for the opportunity to present our findings to you we hope that this will be a starting place for further

preservation efforts in the Brook area thank you for your time tonight and if you have any questions we'll be happy to try and answer them for you thank you very much so U yes no I'm okay thank you so much thank you another good presentation it's my second go around with that presentation is so wonderful thank you you um at this time uh I'd like to turn it over to the board as well as um

anyone in the audience if they have any questions for the students at all oh I'll just have a thought um how are you planning on public publication and disseminating the research findings have you been in touch with anyone uh well we're submitting them to the commission uh for the submission oh sorry to the to the historical commission um certainly publicized the fact that we've been working on it um

but at this point I think we we'd be happy to talk with the commission more about how to do that yeah Wonder thank you good any other questions at all for the students at all yeah I did um so I I know the the scope of this um is bigger than uh I I don't want to say just the property because you did a ton of work but I'm I'm curious um how many other

properties do you think are worth surveying in the area in the future um I guess I guess we would pull from our sections of you know I guess you mean in addition to the properties I guess well you know I think the so the goal of the this were to sort of update existing survey that you know for underdocumented properties because you know those earlier forms from the 1980 surveys they were you know trying to do

the whole state so they were working fast um so you know we there are what did we say there's 60-ish or so properties in that have already been surveyed that have very minimal information on them and so our goals here were to you know create to give better in documentation for the properties that are already been served including the ones that were listed on the national register because they

literally have like one page right and like a little paragraph right um so um but I think you know there's there's cons there's another 40 Years of properties that have sort of aged into the system in this neighborhood there's been a lot of development um that's sort of interstitial between this sort of the Wilson Road kind of clump of resources and maybe the hilltop where the church

is kind of you know the first settlement site kind of clump of resources um so I mean there's at least another 45 that are already surveyed and need more work and then you know if you were to do a really a good kind of um I would say a good you know um casting a net on to cover you know your whole potential Universe um we didn't estimate that but

it's at least as many more so I I can probably help you there there are 22 more buildings in the area that date back to the 18th century and 19th there're 22 more and you attempted not attempt you did at go after 22 buildings and found 32 that were within that realm so the same would happen again on our significant structures list there's still 22 buildings that have not been really documented so there's some really

interesting development that seems to happen as downtown is decentralizing a little um we see you know like the queen an house you saw there and there's some other houses on some of the side streets where it's clear that some of the sort of skill sort of managers and and you know skilled labor is deciding that maybe living downtown is is not what they want anymore and they're building

some kind of nice houses out in what's the kind of urban Edge um and with the street car going up there and then automobiles you know they have their commercial they had a commercial district there so you know there's um there's certainly we see some other trends that are kind of interesting in thinking about you know the full history of this

place MH any other questions at all for presenters yes you wouldn't mind coming up to the front please and stting your name as well please y thank you hi Alexander Silva 148 puras Street uh great job with the research I was just wondering what uh you were most surprised about in your research for the the neighborhood and finding I know for me it's just you know picturing the first day when we drove

through steep Brook and we're taking our initial photos to think of that as the center of Fall River at any point was very very hard to believe there are a lot of missing pieces to you know the different recreational venues that we um we read about and you know the Wares So reading about all these things that used to exist and either don't exist now or they're you know very subtle remnants of

them were were very surprising and the amount of activity um especially that we learned in um articles published about Fall River you know it was a very Vibrant Community and they had a lot of events going on yeah I guess just very similar because we were also just talking about this like on the car ride over here about like just how we were surprised about all this but um also I had had um

I did the 3247 North Main Street with like Barnabas Clark and that was one of the ones I researched and I remember going there and it's like a like little like one-story building and I was just like okay like I don't know what history this is going to have but it like it looks really modern now it's been like redone like okay and then finding out that like he was so prominent there with

like the clay pits and like the wvs and like creating this clay industry and then he also had the ice Industries and it was just like to picture that all happening like from that place was just like wait this is such a small little like house that seems just like this modern little house now um so I mean we obviously don't know what the interior looks like or anything anymore but I

just thought that was kind of really interesting to me um one of the houses that I specifically researched was uh the Kenedy house that um the original documentation that we were looking at the original building form there mentioned its connection with the Underground Railroad uh but it wasn't super detailed so I wanted to do more research into that um so I was you know surprised I'm not super familiar with

the area so I was surprised to learn that there was um that Fall River did you know play such a prominent role in the Underground Railroad but I was also surprised because the more so um you know it stood out to me that this was the documentation um you know maybe wasn't the original documentation maybe wasn't as thorough or you know maybe I just wasn't able to find the piece that I was looking for

but um you know it definitely kind of emphasized the importance of this project that we were doing to go and um you know update these forms and find you know find out where they fell short before just so that we can have you know an even more thorough understanding of the community excellent thank you um any other questions at all for the group all right um I'd like to turn over to Rick

we have uh actually we have um some citations to to present um we have citations from the city council the mayor from the city and also the mayor is going to read office citation from the state so uh Mr Raposa good evening to all of you my name is Andrew raposo I'm a member of former city council on behalf of the council I'll present this official city council citation to Professor Styles and your team

it reads be it resolved the city council hereby extends its Commendation to Professor Styles and the team the professor of historical preservation at Roger Williams University in recognition for your impressive work with your students to document and record historically significant structures in the 17 and 1800 in the SE book area be it further resolved for of a city council extend best wishes for your

continued success and the resolution be enter the record of the city council adopted April 23rd 2024 proposed by vice president Linda Pereira and signed by President Joseph CRA

congratulations Andrew thank you so much thank you very much thank you so I have one that's not mine from the state representatives we have three Allan's the only one on it but I'm sure Carol Fiola and Paul Schmidt would also support this um in recognition of Dr Styles uh you and your students work in documenting historically significant structures within the Steep Brook area of for River allowing for River

historical commission to officially list and maintain these and preserve these historical presence uh it's signed by the Speaker of the House Ron marinero and I want to make sure you that thank you very I have I have one for all the kids listed there so I'll give you not all

did the whole presentation I really I rolled those streets a ton of times and it's uh it's funny to see it in that context we just thought it was an old house so that one's being renovated so in honor and recognition of the work conducted by you and the Roger Williams students documenting the historic properties in the Steep Brook area in the city of for River signed by me Paul Coogan the May that one's for

you they all say the same thank you you do knowbody knows these people are not from Fall River one poor soul got lost from Alabama the rest are at least New England or semi New England um now the only name I'm not sure of I know Elizabeth Brown I remember that one but your name was Erin I got it okay Elizabeth congratulations and Aon is right here congratulations thanks for your help thank

you of course all the kids LED uh CL Oliver um Benjamin Cameron Charles you can tell I'm the mayor cuz I put in the wrong way Nathaniel um Andrew and Jason for the reference to do this I hope you come back and do another section of the city we really really appreciate your help and the presentation taught me more than I knew and that's how I look at things so again

give these to the other guys and thank you all very very much

thank you thank you Andrew you're welcome thank you everyone and and from the board as well I would like to thank you for all the work that went into researching this area of the city and um I too am not from Fall River and I find as I'm going through looking at all the the um documented buildings and doing a little bit more research I'm realizing how much has not actually been

determined um you know whether it's an architect whether it's uh the exact year a building was constructed and who was associated with it um you talked about uh was it Forest Hills um for example and then the globe Street Railway which those were tied together with one uh individual that was George melon who uh created or at least established the globe uh Street Railway U from the other

street car lines in the city and then as a not successful Venture wanted to create a kind of like picnic Grove uh of sorts at Forest Hills and uh he later established the melon Hotel downtown um so these are things that you know it's connecting the dots with significant people in the city um and the Underground Railroad which that is quite extensive I know the preservation it's it's endless um so

this is a great start to what we hope will be um you know as our board we want to focus on updating the resources that we do have in the city um we have as I mentioned we have a lot in the city that has not been documented um whether it's a full neighborhood um and even the North End really um part of the Highlands neighborhood and the North End area um that warrant this type of

investigation um so this is something that we as the historical commission will be looking at for the long term it'll be an ongoing project um yes and this is a good shot in the arm for us uh to help promote in the city uh this this presentation is is going to be used extensively uh we're probably going to pull some sort of a a gathering together with the Steep Brook neighborhood and do present this this uh

particular presentation and uh we're looking to expand the highlands District so we're going to use a presentation like this to say you know this is why we want to preserve the neighborhood so that history can be here and we don't need someone to go back and try and rewrite it for us okay and maybe for a little humor if you date back you know what impressed me the most bfin Beach

when I was a little guy my parents took me there and I remember the diving boards they had these huge boards one maybe I don't know the heights but 10t 15 people used to jump off and I remember that you know so that's going back a little bit but I'm not going to tell you my there anything that oh just um you will never be able to go down North Main Street again without knowing every inch

of the area so you own this now and we're very grateful that you've done this work thank you we're very appreciative so wonderful you want a motion to adjourn I think so yes um so it is 6:40 p.m. um we will be meeting next on um I don't have the date it's the third Tuesday of May but our next meeting will be 20th the 20th thank you of May um so

I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:40 p.m. I'll make a motion to adjourn thank you I'll second the motion Rick and Connie motion by Rick second by Connie uh roll call uh Ashley yes John yes Elizabeth Yes Rick Rick Mancini yes Joyce I'm sorry Connie yes Joyce yes and Jason bardi yes thank you very much everyone thank you thank you very much thank you good job very impressive it's the

best meeting we''ve had in a