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President's Letter
Dear Members,
Welcome to another year with the East Providence Historical Society. Hope you all had a good summer and are looking forward to a new year of interesting events. Ray Anderson, Program Chairman, is busy setting up programs and when they are all settled, a schedule will be printed in the news letter. September's program will be a presentation by artist David Wagner.
If you have driven by Hunts Mills lately you will have noticed the
new sign at the entrance on Pleasant Street. It was installed as part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and made more attractive by the plantings supplied by the Parks Department and Ray Anderson.
The replica of the Tea House (gazebo) is framed. Tom Galligan, the
construction teacher at East Providence High School, hopes to have it finished by the end of October. Donations are gladly being accepted to help pay for the materials to build the Tea House.
The John Hunt House Museum was open on Sunday, August 8. I would like to thank Earl and Ginny Berwick and Ray Anderson for serving as docents that day. We will
continue to be open on the 2nd Sunday of each month and are always looking for members to act as docents for a few hours on those days. If you are willing, please see Ginny Berwick.
I would like to thank all of the committee chairs and the Board of
Directors for their hard work and hope that many other members will join them in volunteering this coming year.
Kris Rose, President
Preservation Committee
By David Kelleher, Chairman
On behalf of the historical society, I submitted a grant proposal to the RI Historic Preservation Commission to secure funds for the restoration of the 1905 Amusement Park Office Building (EP Water Department Meter House in later years) next to the John Hunt House Museum. I wish to thank the following Board members for their help in meeting the July 30 deadline:
- PETER ALLEN for leaving Cape Cod to bring me budget information;
- RAY ANDERSON for using a roll of film to produce pictures of the building as it is now;
- EDNA ANNESS for providing information about the historical society, John Hunt House, a copy of the society's lease arrangement with the city and a picture of the Amusement Park Office Building as it was in 1905.
We received a letter of support from Jean Boyle, Director, EP Planning Department. William J. Fazioli, Jr, City Manager, signed the grant proposal representing city ownership of the building.
City Manager Faziolli gave the society a flag from the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor to be flown from the flag pole at the John Hunt House Museum.
Ric Greenwood, RI Historic Preservation Commission, has agreed to visit the Brown/Williams Cottage, Hunts Mills Road, Rumford, sometime in September or October to evaluate the property.
I attended a presentation of the proposed Rosscommon development on Roger Williams Avenue. It appears to be a good project. Colin Kane, New England Construction, requested information of Phillipsdale so that the area's history could be used in promotion for the project. He is open to all suggestions from the historical community and plans to work with the historical society for years to come.
There are plans for a meeting in the near future to investigate the possibility of a historic district designation for the Phillipsdale area. Members of the East Providence Planning Department, Ned Connors, consultant for historic preservation and I will attend.
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From the President's desk . . . 