A suggestion for Downtown
Downtown renewal – and revival – has been a major issue in West Haven for decades. While there was talk to rethink the downtown area prior to 1989, the decision to move the Superior Court from City Hall that year, eventually moving to Derby and Milford, made the renewal of the center district more of a priority.
The loss of the courts led to an intended consequence (as many of these decisions do): the foot traffic that was generated when the court was in session, was a boost to the various stores that lined Campbell Avenue and Main Street. The loss of the foot traffic led to stores closing – many of them longtime family businesses. Where men’s and women’s clothing stores, bakeries, drug shops, banks, and a sizeable department store once stood, empty storefronts took their place.
Over the ensuing decades, stores have come and gone, attempts are made to open shops that would attract patrons. Many failed, some have survived, but the vitality that was once the downtown business district is virtually gone.
Most recently, the administration of Mayor Dorinda Borer has put forth the idea of using some of the spaces along the downtown area for meeting spaces and other venues that would put people into the center. One of the spots is the former Masonic Temple on Center Street. This would be used as a meeting space, finally abandoning the almost 30-year-old idea of making it an Arts Center.
The Arts Center had been bandied about for years, with some work done nearly 20 years ago, stripping the building down and attempting to install small auditorium. The plan was to use only grants and donations to do the work. The funding sources were few and eventually dried up. Now the idea to make this a meeting venue for various city organizations and clubs seems to be a way to get the building into utility.
We have an idea as well.
One of the casualties of the loss of the Savin Rock Conference Center and NEBCO, and now the Kelsey is the closure of the Savin Rock Museum. The closure meant the exhibits, highlighting the heyday of the Savin Rock Amusement Park, were either stored away or sporadically placed.
When the Conference Center was planned for the New England Brewing Company, some of the exhibits were to be placed in that site. Nothing to our knowledge has been mentioned concerning the Kelsey.
We would like to see space allocated in the Masonic Temple redesigned for such a museum. It may be an attraction that can generate some traffic downtown, boosting the area’s businesses. This can be done in cooperation with the West Haven Historical Society, which has its headquarters around the block on Savin Avenue, in the former Poli mansion. It would be, also, a suitable location for such an exhibition, using an ancient building to house some of the city’s most cherished history.
The city is proud of its history, and housing the many artifacts from the amusement park that are part of the collection in one venue is important.
We hope this idea is seen to have some merit, and we look forward to any discussion that might be had in its regard.