Author: Michael Weishan

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Progress at Fayville

Well friends, things are starting to really shape up at Fayville, and we have actually begun the intricate process of moving ourselves out of the dilapidated Flagg School.

Here are some snaps:

One of the new handicap accessibled bathrooms, complete with period tiled floor. You may think it odd to lead off with a picture of a bathroom, but after almost two years of porta-potties, the first flush of success was indescribably grand!

Our brand new archives room, complete with a set of 25 filing cabinets free from the State’s surplus goods program! Thanks to Dr. Cynthia Koch and our state reps for directing us to this program! For the first time in our history we’ll have all our archives together in one climate controlled space!

The long gallery for changing exhibitions—just missing the trim!

The first-floor meeting room/small class space. This room is huge: 23′ x 15′, as is the new archives room next door.

The 1911 hardwood floor (“there is nothing historic left at Fayville Hall”) in the second-floor Assembly Room re-emerges from a century of wear and grime
Another view of the Assembly Room. The wrapped blue parcels are glass and brass-legged free-standing display cases donated by St. Marks. They will house special exhibits, and huge thank you to St. Marks for offering and then paying for delivery of these cases!
The downstairs classroom takes shape.

The restored grand staircase. Wow, again, “nothing historic left at Fayville says CPC.”
The restored front facade awaiting its new entrance steps, complete with duplicates of original 1911 shutters. Looking for donations here to add the rest of the shutters!
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Remembering Donna McDaniel

It is with a sad heart that we report that one of our most faithful members, Donna McDaniel, died earlier this month at age 89.

Newspaper reporter, author, teacher, musician and the first woman ever elected to the Board of Selectmen in Southborough, she was a trailblazer in so many fields.

In 2011, she published, after many years of work, a book for the Society, Southborough Memories. In it, she used her considerable skills as a reporter to interview dozens of long-time Southborough residents, weaving together stories of a small farming town that seem almost unbelievable today. True to form, she wisely recognized that these memories were on the cusp of disappearance, and gathered them together to form an invaluable portrait of life in Southborough from the 1920s to the 1960s.

To celebrate her life, we’ve republished the book HERE for all to enjoy. We’ve also spoken with the Select Board, and they have kindly agreed to lower the flag at the Town House on Saturday, August 3rd, the day of Donna’s memorial service. We’ll also be donating a shade tree to be planted in Donna’s memory across the street from the library where a giant beech was lost during the road reconstruction.

I think our gentle, kind, Quaker friend would be pleased. She will be much missed.

Godspeed Donna, and thank you.

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“Nothing Historic Left at Fayville Hall,” Claims CPC

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, this was the “professional” opinion that the town’s highly paid consultant, Freddie Gillespie, delivered to the the Community Preservation Commission last month in response to the Society ‘s request to utilize town CPC funds at Fayville Hall to finish the site-work mandated by the Planning Board. “There is nothing historical left at Fayville Hall,” she repeated. “It’s all been ripped out.” Another equally knowledgeable member, who also had never visited the site, opined: “It’s been totally altered… There will be nothing historical to see inside!” (Ah, nothing but the town museum…) “Plus, people will have to pay to get in!” (Also wrong. ) But my favorite was when a third member, Kristen LeVault cried “Why are we even bothering with this? Just say no! It’s our money!” (Note to Kristen: its not your money, dearie; its our tax payer dollars.)

The 1911 oak staircase emerges from a century of grime and abuse.

And on and on the nonsense went over several meetings and dozens of unreasonable demands , despite three written clarifications to the CPC and multiple attempts by our board members to correct the spoken record. (We were actually shut out of the virtual meeting at one point, unable to reply for over an hour, and talked over by Ms. Gillespie throughout.) In total disgust with these blatantly partisan antics, the Society withdrew its application after it became apparent that various CPC members were abusing their positions to prevent our request from reaching the town meeting floor, where it probably would have passed.

Some battles are just not worth the cost, and this was clearly one.

We are now in the process of securing other funding, never fear.

But for the record, and just to show reasonable folks like you that there IS in fact a lot of historical fabric left at Fayville, we wanted to share with you a brand new picture of the grand staircase, above, freshly hand-sanded, and showing off its beautiful oak grain for the first time in 100 years. Thanks to new SHS board member Jon Delli Priscoli, who donated a supply of rare period 1″ thick oak boards, we’ll be able to restore the oak trim in the entry hall that was ripped out during the town’s tenancy.  Returning too will be the wonderful wrought-iron art nouveau ticket window that once graced this space. And of course, the upstairs assembly room, with original floors and ceiling height restored.

But of course, there’s nothing historic about any of that!

On a happier note, we are still anticipating a soft opening for the History and Arts Center this fall, with the facility fully operational by winter 2025. At lot remains to be done, not only inside the building (which now has inside walls for the first time in 5 years) but also the site work outside— in addition, of course, to the herculean process of moving our collections from the Flagg School to Fayville.

However, that worry is for another day.

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New Color Photos Discovered of the Cordaville Mills

By pure chance and good fortune, Virginia Cumming sent me some slides last month in the mail, with a note that these had been taken by her father Bob, and they were ours if we wanted them.

Wow, did we want them! To our knowledge, these are the only color pictures we have of the Cordaville Mills, and certainly the only ones that show their sad demolition.

Here’s a picture of the mills during their prime in the late 1800s. The tower had once contained a bell to summon the workers, but it was replaced by a simple capped roof in this picture.

The mills in 1973. The roof cap was replaced by a water tank at some point, which was then removed as well.

Cordaville Mill half demolished November 1974

A 1973 Closeup of the derelict building.

The tunnel under the tracks 1974

The tunnel in the late 1880s

The slides also contained a view of our poor train station, shortly before it’s own demolition:

And one last: the side of Fitzgeralds with gas pumps.

Fitzgeralds, the lone survivor in these views, has recently had quite a facelift, but as for the others, its so sad to think these buildings survived almost to the cusp of public support for historic preservation, only to be torn down. Think of what a wonderful housing complex those mills might have made, solving at one stroke our current MBTA zoning problems.

Thanks again Virginia for this wonderful find! A real coup!

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Society Announces Board Members for 2024-2025

The upstairs Assembly Room slowly emerges. Albeit a bit dusty at the moment, the 1911 original wood floor awaits refinishing and the merry sound of dancing feet. (The pile of lumber you see is rescued flooring to be re-layed in the vestibule.) Note too the 18′ ceilings, which are visible for the first time in over 70 years, having been hidden by a hideous drop ceiling.

The Historical Society is proud to announce its board members for the 2024 and 2025 term.

Michael Weishan, who will continue as president, will also assume the mantel of CEO of Southborough Historical Society, Inc, the business arm of the Society. Michael is the principal of  Michael Weishan and Associates, a landscape architecture firm, as well as the founding executive director of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation at Harvard.

Jon Delli Priscoli, who joins the board this year, is the owner of First Colony Development, with over 40 years of construction experience. Jon is also the owner of 84 Main Street, the Burnett House here in Southborough, which is just completing an 8-year multi-million dollar restoration.

Amy Rosenberg, who also is new to the board this year, is a retired Lecturer on Law and Senior Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation.

Matthew Young, MD, JD, MBA, an attorney at Ross Keller Casey, will continue his service to the SHS as treasurer.

Rebecca Deans-Rowe, board member emerita, will continue as our development coordinator.

We’d also like to thank outgoing secretary Dean Lamsa for his dedicated services over the last five years.

 

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Update and Annual Appeal

Dear Friends,

Last December, the Southborough Historical Society began the most ambitious restoration of a public landmark ever attempted in Southborough—turning the 1911 Fayville Village Hall into a new history and arts center. As anyone who has ever renovated an old structure knows, the process is long, arduous and hugely expensive, often with multiple unforeseen obstacles along the way. For us, these included discovering a spring in the basement (flowing at 50 gallons a minute!); rotted sills; termites; bowed walls; sagging roof and crumbling foundations. (We’ve included some photos of these delights to share with you.)

Yet, one by one, these problems have been overcome, and as 2023 closes, we’re now entering the final phases of the restoration.

When completed, Southborough will have a vibrant venue for art instruction, meetings, social gatherings, private functions, and of course, state-of-the-art archival storage and exhibit space for the Society’s growing historical collections. Fayville Village Hall will be a veritable Atheneum for our town, an enduring symbol of Southborough’s dedication to history and culture. (You can see the floor plans and renderings online at southboroughhistory.org/fayville)

Needless to say, we need your generous financial support now more than ever. There are a thousand things that remain to be done (and paid for), from basics, like fitting out the catering kitchen and art space, to complicated projects like installing our elevator, which will provide the hall with ADA access for the first time. Outdoors, parking, ramps and site work are yet to be achieved, as well as restoration of the historic columned front entrance and stair hall.

But they will come— with your help.

In conjunction with our partners the Southborough Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, we’d also like to make a general call out to local residents interested in history or the arts. Perhaps you are a teacher of a particular craft or skill, wishing to offer a class? Or, perhaps an artist looking for a new exhibit space, or maybe you just want to learn more about future course offerings or lectures for you or your family? We are starting to think about our 2024-2025 programming, so email us at info@southborooughhistory.org, and we’ll make sure you are kept in the loop.

Our very best wishes for the holiday season from the SHS Board! And thank you!

Michael Weishan
Sally Watters
Dean Lamsa
Matthew Young

Click on the image below to donate safely and conveniently online.

 

 

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Society Receives 200K Grant for Fayville Hall Renovations

The Southborough Historical Society is honored and gratified to announce that it  has today received a 200K grant from MassDevelopment and it’s partners in the Capital Grants program, the Mass Cultural Council, Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao and the Healey Driscoll, to further the renovations of Fayville Hall.

While these funds are not restricted to a specific portion of the project, it is the Society’s intention to use these monies to help pay for the ADA compliance portions of the building, including the new elevator, ramp and associated services.

Despite bizarre material shortages and extensive supply chain delays (6 months for the windows!) we anticipate finishing the exterior of the structure this September, with a soft opening early in the new year.

Forward, and thanks again to our friends at the Mass Cultural Council for believing in our new history and arts center!

 

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Progress and a Call for An Annual Meeting

Ladies and Gentlemen of Southborough,

How to begin. Flooding, termites, decay, mold, dust, and totally rotted sills.

And YET!!

We are beyond all of these! Finally progress on stabilizing the structure!

We are heading home, and to that end, we would like to plan for an Annual Meeting of the Southborough Historical Society, potentially in June, and potentially at our new site!

We will want to make this invitation open to ALL Southborough residents, to show the town what we are up to, and encourage new members in our organization!

Stay tuned here over the next couple of weeks for an update

And hang on to your hard hat!

 

Back stair treads being cut to secure rear wall…

 

Become this, the stair you will walk to many events!

 

This is our 300K commitment to ADA: the elevator pit that will for the first time in the building’s history link all floors

Who needs HVAC?  Fresh air!

 

Hello Fayville Athletic Club,. our new neighbors!

The Future History Gallery

Looking across two floors. This is a one-time view, as there will be a wall here for the new stair.

The new structural struts to keep the building from collapsing. A long road home.

 

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The Place to Be in 25!

We’re delighted to be able to share with you today a fantastic rendering of what our new large lecture and event space will look like:

The second floor gallery @Fayville. Click to enlarge.

In this visualization by the ever talented architectural artist Jeff Stikeman, we see the second floor gallery space set up for an arts and travel lecture on Italy. The participants have, of course, just finished a wonderful meal catered by a local restaurant , along with a flight of Italian wines to sample. (Hopefully everyone will be awake for the talk! )

This is just one of the many set ups the 1200 square foot space will be able to accommodate: small concerts, private events, art exhibitions and seminars are all possibilities on the docket.

Currently construction proceeds a pace, with a grand opening planned early in 2025.

Arrividerci!

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Society to Design Digital Main Street History Walk

Dear Friends

I thought I would take a break from Fayville Hall updates to let you know about another exciting program the Society has been working on over the last year: a new self-guided history walk for downtown.

 

click on the image to enlarge

The original conception for this tour was a more traditional post-and-sign route, similar to what has been done in neighboring Hudson and Marlborough. However, given the large number of stops and the primarily residential nature of neighborhood, this traditional approach presented problems. Thus, our proposed tour will be almost entirely digital, and can be started at any point along the map. Just pull out your tablet or phone, go to the proper web address,  push a button, and presto: images, text—and perhaps even audio—for each stop will pop up as you move along the route.

We’re currently in the process of adapting the map technology, and assembling the data for each stop. With a little luck, portions of the tour will be available this fall, with full completion expected by 2024.

Just another way we strive to bring your history alive!