Historic Salem, Inc., Salem, Massachusetts

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P.O. Box 865, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 745-0799
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A Brief History of Historic Salem, Inc.
by Jim McAllister



EAST OF THE PALISADES  (1975-1979)
As the nation approaches its 200th birthday, Salem, one of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' six "Visible Cities," is busy preparing for the thousands of visitors it expects in 1976.

The HSI Bicentennial Committee, headed by Robert Murray, (later Bicentennial coordinator for the City of Salem) had worked with the City Planning Department and Cultural Arts Commission to initiate the planning of Salem Bicentennial activities in 1973. And now, in 1976, the organization is in a commemorative mood. On April 19, the HSI plaque honoring Benjamin Peirce, the only Salemite to die in the 1776 Battle of Concord and Lexington, is dedicated in Skinner Square on Church Street. Mayor Jean Levesque and HSI board member and project initiator, John Wright speak at the ceremony. In June, HSI provides lunches at Hamilton Hall as part of the "Chestnut Street Days" celebration. Lifetime HSI member Mary Rice, escorted by President Byron Getchell, represents HSI at the Bicentennial Ball at the Salem Armory.

But HSI's "big story" in 1976 is not the Bicentennial but the $49,890 matching grant it receives from the National Endowment for the Arts to identify the features that make Salem such a special place and to study how to preserve those features in the face of future growth and change.

The "EAST OF THE PALISADES" project oversight is the responsibility of a Restoration and Preservation Committee chaired by Stanley Smith. Members include Larry English, Joyce Cook, William Russell Burns,Jr., Binda Welch, H. Gregory Senko, Byron Getchell, and Peter Shelley. In 1975, the committee retains Anderson Notter Associates, Inc., architects and preservation planners, and Russell Wright, preservation architect, as project consultants. Heath Aldridge is hired as HSI's first full-time professional executive director, Andrea Calfee as secretary. On November 1, 1975, HSI opens its first office, at 15 Summer Street. Shortly after, the organization is notified by the Salem Planning Department that its business sign is illegal!

Matching funds for the project are obtained from a variety of sources, including a $10,000 grant from the Eva Gebhard-Garguard Foundation, member solicitation, the HSI House and Garden Tour and special gifts. Particularly helpful is an in-kind contribution from the City of Salem in the amount of $23,300, funds given to the City by Pickering Oil Company for a Salem waterfront study. That study was then incorporated into the East of the Palisades project work plan.

A questionnaire regarding neighborhood conservation issues is mailed to every resident in Salem as part of the project, and more than 300 households respond. By the end of 1975, more than 2,000 homes in the Derby Street, Common, Boston Street, Bridge Street, and Broad-Federal Street neighborhoods have been inventoried by Anderson Notter Associates and information on the architectural merit and style of each building has been recorded on color-coded maps. These maps are displayed at the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank (the HSI Board had been meeting at the Bank's new community room since 1974). Copies are filed at the Essex Institute, HSI, the Salem Planning Department and Salem Public Library. The information contained on the maps will provide parameters for future change and development.

An East of the Palisades "First Action Area," containing portions of the Bridge Street, Common and Derby Street neighborhoods, is established. At a series of public meetings, input is solicited from residents of the area about neighborhood problems that need to be addressed. The project consultants and HSI staff then work with Salem City departments to resolve the issues raised at the meetings.

In 1976, the City of Salem announces two rehabilitation programs, both developed by HSI Director Heath Aldridge and designed to help homeowners in East of the Palisades target area. The board then establishes a revolving loan fund to further aid low-and moderate-income Salem residents wishing to rehab their property and to help HSI to acquire property if and when necessary. The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers a $5,000 grant, plus another $10,000 in counter\-signed loans, to HSI for the fund, but the organization is unable to raise the required matching funds.

The East of the Palisades project ends on March 15, 1977, with a champagne reception at Old Town Hall to celebrate the publication of "The Salem Handbook, a Renovation Guide for Homeowners". This 113-page book is an East of the Palisades project activity produced through the joint efforts of HSI and Anderson Notter staffers and a number of HSI members.

On other fronts, the Charter Street Historic District is granted National Register status in 1975. The application was prepared by HSI's Jake Wolfson. And an HSI committee, chaired by Mrs. William Wheaton, is currently preparing the necessary documentation for the Federal Street Historic District. Jake Wolfson and Dolores and Alice Jordan of HSI have already filed papers to establish a National Register Derby Waterfront District.

In January, 1975, the HSI Program Committee sponsors a forum titled "What's Happening in Salem". A month later, HSI co-hosts, with the Salem Historic District Commission, the monthly meeting of the Essex County Historic and Scenic District Planning Committee. Another HSI program, "You're Where It's At - Your House, Your Street, Your City", at the Knights of Columbus Hall in October, 1976, brings representatives from the Planning Department, HSI, and the Salem Historic District Commission together to outline preservation programs available to Salem homeowners.

The first annual SPRING ANTIQUE AND GARDEN SHOW is held at the Salem Armory in April, 1976. The event attracts 100 vendors and nets over $4,000. The following year, HSI contributes $2500 towards the cost of a preliminary study for the Heritage Plaza West Redevelopment area.

A second major grant, for $93,000 from the Title VI program administered by the local CETA office, is awarded to HSI in 1978 for its "PRESERVATION INFORMATION PROJECT." The 11 staff members hired under the grant inventory 1700 Salem homes, and research 164 in depth. They also research preservation laws and produce a written history of Salem's Boston Street neighborhood. On July 26, 100 people attend a slide show about the Boston Street area presented by project staffer, Dan Campbell. The Preservation Information Project comes to a premature end on September 30, due to personnel problems.

In May, 1978, Salem's PRESERVATION WEEK activities, coordinated by HSI, are the focus of a 4-minute segment on WBZ-TV. Peter Mehegan tours Chestnut and Derby Streets, as well as the downtown walking mall. Mehegan also interviews Stanley Jaskiel who is in the process of restoring his Derby Street home.

HSI sponsors a FIELD TRIP to the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard (Mass.) In May, 1978, and, two months later, plays host to a group from the Providence (R.I.) Preservation Society. The latter event includes tours of private homes in the Chestnut Street area, museum visits, lunch, a talk about the Salem redevelopment effort by Stan Smith at Hamilton Hall, and a walking tour with Carolyn Tolles. An HSI trip to Providence the following April completes the exchange program with the Providence Preservation Society.

Between May and October of 1979, HSI members arrange and conduct TOURS OF SALEM for the Walpole Women's Club, the Victorian Melrose Society, the Doric Dames, and the Weston Womens' Community League. A September Salem Harbor tour attracts 55 members and friends, while Stephen Nissenbaum and Charles Boyer usher in the Halloween season with "Fear and Loathing in Salem Village," a look at the 1692 Witchcraft Hysteria.

An HSI ROAD RACE on June 27, 1979, attracts 651 runners and raises $1500. The Salem Evening News calls the race "the largest ever run in Salem". The 6.2 mile race route is laid out by Bryant Tolles, director of the Essex Institute, and winds through the Derby Street and McIntire Historic Districts and Salem Willows. The event is coordinated by HSI's Lane Nielsen. In the second annual Historic Salem Road Race, Bob Hall of Belmont (Mass.) sets a new American wheelchair record for a 10,000-meter race.

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