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Powell Speaks Out on Old First Church

by Bill Dusty

Springfield City Council candidate Karen Powell issued a press release on Thursday calling for action to help save the city’s historic Old First Church, which recently announced it is closing due to declining membership. The church has been offering services for 370 years.

Powell finished in 12th place in the City’s September 18th preliminary election, which pared down the number of City Council candidates from 20 to 18. Only about 6 percent of Springfield’s registered voters participated in the voting.

In the release, Powell offered her own thoughts on how the city could keep the building’s doors open:

“We cannot allow a significant historical building, such as Old First Church, to go by the wayside. A possible solution to this situation is to convert this building into a children’s museum that would allow children to play and learn at the same time. This museum would showcase Springfield’s place in history and in it’s future, while contributing to the revitalization of downtown Springfield.”

Powell further explained that such a facility could be privately funded:

“A children’s museum like this could be privately financed by inviting companies to sponsor a room or an exhibit. There could be educational games, interactive computers, nutritional exhibits, health displays, features on recycling, landfills and maintaining a green city. Each of these components could be collaboration with a large corporation with special emphasis being placed on some of the larger businesses in the greater Springfield area. In addition, we could highlight the history of Springfield, including the fact that Old First Church was one of the stops on the underground railroad.”

More from the release:

Powell strongly believes that attracting young families into the heart of the city would help breath new life into our downtown area. Powell stated, “This museum would be an excellent addition to the Quadrangle and would
create a natural flow of pedestrian traffic from the Quadrangle through Pynchon Park and into the heart of the City and Court Square, which has it’s own rich history.”

Powell sees this as a benefit to the City that will both spur economic development by attracting families and visitors to the museum as well as the Quadrangle, Hall of Fame, Mass Mutual Center events, Symphony Hall and area restaurants. The anticipated increase of visitors could also encourage businessmen to open storefronts along Main Street catering to children and younger families.

Posted by Bill Dusty on Sep 21st, 2007 and filed under Cities & Towns, Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.