My View of Life on the Dock
Another sign of creative spring- the banners are up! Gloucester Public School 11th Annual citywide arts festival May 11, 2019 presented by Gloucester Education Foundation at Cape Ann Museum, City Hall, & Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library https://thinkthebest.org/
Schedule of events here
Gloucester, Mass. A great teacher at Gloucester High School, Shaun Goulart, creates a local history scavenger hunt/trivia game for his 9th grade students that takes place weekly for 6 weeks. We’re taking the challenge paced one week after the students.
ANSWERS TO SHAUN GOULART’S LOCAL HISTORY SCAVENGER HUNT TRIVIA WEEK FIVE
1)What year was there an ordinance to establish a Police department in Gloucester? ANSWER: 1873 (according to the Gloucester Time Line archives book and the great Gloucester police website here : “In 1799, Isaac Elwell was appointed Inspector of Police. This was a term first used in Boston 14 years earlier to describe the men appointed to keep track of the night watchmen who patrolled the city after dark watching for fires. Constables assisted Elwell and other men who followed him as Inspector of Police until about 1847 when a petition was received by the Selectmen asking for some additional policemen to assist the Inspector of Police. Around 1850 the first night police were used. Only a few of the policemen were paid as the rest either served without compensation or were only paid for working during special occasions. In 1873, a city ordinance establishing a police department was put into effect with nine officers under the leadership of City Marshal William Cronin.”)
2)The original building used as a jail prior to 1889 was located on Rogers Block, take a picture of this area present day with a member in it. ANSWER: Main Street (harbor side) from Duncan to Porter
3)Where was the first Gloucester police station built in 1889, take a picture with a member in it at the location. ANSWER: corner of Duncan and Roger
4)Veterans of what war had a hall for them located on the third floor of the building? ANSWER: Spanish American in the police station that was built in 1899. City Hall Read about bronze veteran tribute plaques (including Spanish American) at City Hall here
1971/1973 newspaper clipping from Sawyer Free
5)What year was the present day police station erected? Take a picture of it with a member in it. ANSWER: 1973
6)Go to the exterior of the police station and take a picture with an object that would be personal to Mr. Goulart (keyword: Goulart) ANSWER: Officer Jerome G. Goulart memorial bench
7)Take a picture with a Gloucester Police officer in uniform. Answ. How cool are these officer baseball cards!
“Kops-n-Kids” is a Gloucester Police Department (Official) initiative where officers visit Gloucester Schools to interact with students during recess & gym class
8)Ask the cop: What is the code word for “lunch break” over the radio. Submit the answer. ANSWER: 1093
9)For a brief time the “Old Stone Jug” served as a jail, take a picture in front of it with a member in it. What is this building known as? ANSWER: Fitz Henry Lane former house and studio
10) Where does the term cop come from? ANSWER: not definitive though according to snopes meaning “nab” closest: “Instead, the police-specific use of “cop” made its way into the English language in far more languid fashion. “Cop” has long existed as a verb meaning “to take or seize,” but it didn’t begin to make the linguistic shifts necessary to turn it into a casual term for “police officer” until the mid-19th century. The first example of ‘cop’ taking the meaning “to arrest” appeared in print around 1844, and the word then swiftly moved from being solely a verb for “take into police custody” to also encompassing a noun referring to the one doing the detaining. By 1846, policemen were being described as “coppers,” the ‘-er’ ending having been appended to the “arrest” form of the verb, and by 1859 “coppers” were also being called “cops,” the latter word a shortening of the former.”- snopes
Prior Posts Continue reading “RESULTS Week 5 Police | #greatteacher Mr. Goulart’s local history hunt #GloucesterMA #TBT”
Keep What Works at the Library – “Keep What Works at the Library”, Martha Bowen letter to the editor, Gloucester Daily Times, March 23, 2019
Since the last meeting February 26, 2019
Continue reading “Sawyer Free Library new building presentation March 27”
Head of the Harbor WOW factor sunset.
Not too shabby from the the state fish pier, either!
Plum violet – when red meets blue.
Early voting at Kyrouz Auditorium, City Hall, Gloucester, MA, today to 7:00 PM and Friday, November 2, 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
Ballot questions Pro/Con one sheets WGBH
Spectacular City Hall, Gloucester’s cultural landmark and active municipal building, has nearly reached its 150th milestone at 9 Dale Avenue. Rising from the ashes, construction began in 1870 after the Gloucester fire of 1869 consumed its short-lived precursor. Gridley J.F. Bryant & Louis P. Rogers, leading architects at this time, were awarded the commission. Massive disaster response came two years later: the Great Boston Fire wiped out scores of Bryant designed buildings and the firm was awarded a significant percentage of its own rebuilds.
City Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973… which means the research and preparations leading up to that designation timed with its centennial birthday.Recently the expansive floors in Kyrouz Auditorium were buffed and polished and not for the first time. 150 years! Imagine all the footsteps and the generations of staff and volunteers that have cared for this building and community.
Credit DPW for their professionalism and kindness, and steadfast support for the city’s culture. Note their extra caution for protecting heritage from airborne material: mural and portraits were covered.
Before / After
City Hall looks stunning always- BEFORE shots
during (these two photos shared with me)
after
Information labels were applied to City Hall walls with an epoxy that is ill advised near art. In early spring a label for this Ken Gore painting migrated to its surface and pulled away a small patch of paint. Elizabeth Mehlin, an expert painting restorer in Ipswich, Massachusetts, repaired the accidental damage. She was able to tease out pulverized pieces of the paint stuck to remnant epoxy and match the loss so beautifully the fix is indiscernible. The painting is large and heavy. I suspect that its original custom frame was likely carved by multi media artist and Montserrat teacher, Alfred Czerepak (1928 – 1986). Gloucester’s Department of Public Works are such great stewards of the city’s art and history!
KENNETH (KEN) GORE
(American, b.Oct 2 1911 Elvira, Illinois -1990 d. Gloucester)
Ken Gore visited Gloucester for the first time in 1948 and settled into a home and studio within a year. Eventually he purchased 186 East Main Street where he resided and maintained a studio and gallery. (Today it’s Lynzariums, aka the Plant Shack, across from Beacon Marine Basin in East Gloucester.) Gore was a student and art professor at the Detroit Meisinger Art School. He served as president of both Rockport and North Shore Art Associations and for the Cape Ann Festival of the Arts. He performed regularly with the Cape Ann Symphony. He taught regularly. Apparently his personality was as joyous and musical as his painting: his art students and friends considered him “one of the nicest mans they’d ever met.” I’ve heard that his plein air road trips and truck “studio” were quite a sight. I would love to see a picture of him on location by his truck. I do love seeing Jeff Weaver and his signature truck around town.
reminder from Jill Cahill, Gloucester’s Community Development Director:
Harbormaster Building Committee public listening session will be held on
Here is the link to the Harbormaster Building Committee Public Listening Session meeting posting – http://gloucester-ma.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=6957&month=9&year=2018&day=17&calType=0
And here is the link to the 2017 Harbormaster and Visiting Boater Center feasibility study that helped set the stage for this project – http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4590
In the midst of photographing all of the beautiful schooners, I was happy to take a second to appreciate the gorgeous back drop to it all…that is, our Gloucester.
Gloucester Harbor Panorama
Gloucester’s enchanting open spaces – Sawyer Free library’s John and Dorothy Rando Memorial Garden at the front and side entrances
Fitz Henry Lane and other art removed from the library building (January 2018):
Proposed building plans 2017 includes 1972 quest for what became lovely Monnell building:
Beautiful colorful banners on Dale Avenue announce GPS 10th anniversary annual ARTS festival, Saturday May 12th 11-4pm, at City Hall, Cape Ann Museum, and Sawyer Free Library! Sponsored by Gloucester Education Foundation; what a milestone!
Eastern Point
Shoreline, home, and garden have been hard hit by the third nor’easter to take place this March. The waves and spindrifts were magnificent, taking a short drive around the back shore this morning, but it was difficult to observe the further damage to coastline habitats.
And the qualified help that’s needed is underway!
What do you do when your home repair goes very wrong? Upon evaluation, sometimes you just have to hire a new contractor to remedy mistakes. In the fall of 2014 memorial honor roll plaques in City Hall received some cleaning. The monuments were due some attention. Over time the names were no longer legible and the surfaces were grimy defeating their noble purpose. Gloucester’s outstanding City Archives and the Cape Ann Office of Veterans Services were and are able to help with research for those who can’t come in person or see them clearly.
photo caption: BEFORE photograph of one of four WW1 honor rolls in the rotunda City Hall, ca.2014
The 2014 project was not handled by the city nor administered through its committee for the arts, of which I am a member. Funds were raised privately to work on the plaques. Though well intentioned, those restoration efforts were botched (and costly at the time, so I’m told.) The names were made more visible, but the plaques were damaged and results are scratched, streaked and blotchy.
A small annual budget (FY2018 $4000) that’s set aside for care of City arts and culture and monuments as part of its mission must now be redirected to fix the fix. Yes, “Sometimes you have to hire a new contractor to remedy mistakes,” frustrating, but necessary.
Throughout 2018, you may see specialists from Skylight Studios repairing plaques within City Hall through the Committee for the Arts on behalf of the City. (Gloucester residents may recall that Skylight Studios was hired by the Commonwealth to restore the bronze doors of the Abram Piat Andrew Bridge; the doors were temporarily displayed at Cape Ann Museum before being reinstalled.)
The detailed work on the City Hall plaques will be completed in brief, focused intervals. One plaque in the rotunda will be restored last, because it’s a great opportunity to show before and after examples of contemporary restoration projects- the good, the bad and the quality. As the plaques are repaired, the detail of the raised carving and borders and most importantly the names of so many veterans will become easier and easier to read and remember.
*author note- this post is listing interior Honor Rolls within City Hall; it’s not a complete list for all tributes in Gloucester
GROUND FLOOR, CITY HALL
Spanish American War- “Men of Gloucester who served in the War with Spain volunteers all 1898-1902. Gloucester ‘s men, serving on land and sea won for their city the honor of giving to her country the largest per capita of men in this war. Erected by the City of Gloucester 1930.”
World War I Honor Rolls (rotunda and upstairs)
World Ward II Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office)
Korean Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office)
Vietnam Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office; Brian Hamilton 1980 painting of fisherman)
just outside Kyrouz Auditorium, FIRST FLOOR, CITY HALL
“Civil War (1861 1865)This tablet records the service of Company G 8th Regiment MVM in the Civil War; and War with Spain (1898 1899) occupation of Cuba; and World War 1917 1919″ Corrective repairs are underway on this trio Honor Roll. Waxy build up added in 2014 is being removed all over, and names in a small lower right corner have been attended.
The multi story memorial to Gloucester fishermen lost at sea was a major public art project led, designed and hand painted by Norma Cuneo, with Irma Wheeler and Ellen Ferrin in 1978, a beautiful shrine lighted by day by two tall windows. Mark Newton, then city clerk-historian, and Jerry Cook were lead researchers; the team eventually compiled a card index that could be accessed by the public along with checking this massive lost at sea mural. Research incorporated historic materials like The Fishermen’s Memorial and Record Book, by George H. Procter, published by Procter Bros. in 1873, printed matter, family archives, and newspapers. Volunteers and historians amend the sources and statistics over time. The sense of the power of a name and life is inspiring. The response and need to a tangible, accessible record was tremendous. Their work was the basis for the cenotaph installed in 2000 by the Fisherman at the Wheel memorial on Stacy Boulevard, a sacred place and pilgrimage site accessible day and night.
Archival documentation of a federal grant awarded to Gloucester and nationally recognized for its innovation at the time: reclaiming the City dump for an athletic field at the High School. Photographs of the project included a sweeping vista from atop Hovey Street.
Shared projects and working together are a focus for a new 2018 NEH grant opportunity.Contact Mayor Romeo Theken’s arts & culture hotline sefatia4arts@gloucester-ma.gov by Febraury 28 to add to a list of potential projects for Gloucester for this NEH Deadline, March 15, or to consider as other funding opportunities arise.
Mayor Romeo Theken shares the 2018 press release from the Commonwealth:
“The grant below is a new grant from NEH and could be a great opportunity to enhance your local cultural or historical organizations. Please share it far and wide. And let us know if we can provide a letter of support for an application from your community.” Regards, Rick Jakious
“Good afternoon,
Thank you,Timothy H. Robison, Director of Congressional Affairs
The National Endowment for the Humanities has just announced a new grant program to support humanities infrastructures. Cultural institutions, such as libraries, museums, archives, colleges and universities, and historic sites, are eligible to apply for grants of up to $750,000.
These challenge grants, which require a match of nonfederal funds, may be used toward capital expenditures such as construction and renovation projects, purchase of equipment and software, sharing of humanities collections between institutions, documentation of lost or imperiled cultural heritage, sustaining digital scholarly infrastructure, and preservation and conservation of humanities collections.
The application deadline for the first NEH Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grants is March 15, 2018. Interested applicants should direct questions about grant proposals to challenge@neh.govor 202-606-8309.
Please consider sharing this exciting new funding opportunity with cultural institutions in your district.”
National Endowment for the Humanities. 400 7th Street, SW 4th Floor.
Washington, D.C. 20506
(202) 606-8273
Innovative and worthy contemporary Gloucester possibilities abound: shared Archives (NSAA, Rocky Neck, Sargent House, City Archives, CAM, Legion, Libraries, Wards historical societies, etc.); digitize City Archives; Digitize Gloucester Daily Times archives; building and historic landscape projects that are city owned (City Archives, City Hall, Legion, Fitz Henry Lane, Fire Station, Stage Fort, beaches, etc) or in partnership; DPW work; and on and on.
Additional grant opportunities, news, and deadlines:
Continue reading “$750,000 #NEH grant opportunity for Gloucester…many possible ideas and projects!”
The Gloucester Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Abuse, Strong Men Don’t Bully, HAWC, the YWCA North Shore Rape Crisis Center, and the City of Gloucester annual event was packed at City Hall . And it soared, especially artist Megan Wolf stunning song and brave Laura Crook.
Thank you Gloucester
A sail form in the Winter mural seemed more heart 💓 shaped than ever
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be57j4yFP2N/
How the day began
read more and for more information contact Kelley Hiland, Public Health Nurse 978-325-5266 for the Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Abuse::
ONE BILLION RISING
The Gloucester Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Abuse, Strong Men Don’t Bully, HAWC, the YWCA North Shore Rape Crisis Center, and the City of Gloucester invite you to join
ONE BILLION RISING TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. RISE IN SOLIDARITY AND JOIN THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN!
On Wednesday February 14, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. at City Hall, Gloucester will join with activists from around the world for ONE BILLION RISING, the largest action in the history of V-Day, the global activist movement to bring an end to violence against women and girls.
Featuring women’s rights activists Megan Wolf, Gloucester recording artist and Laura Crook, Actor, Writer, Survivor.
ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion this adds up to more than one billion girls and women.
On February 14, Mayor Sefatia Romeo-Theken will lead our cry for justice, and our resolution that Gloucester will not look the other way, and that we will continue to seek justice for victims and survivors of abuse.
Mayor Sefatia Romeo-Theken notes: “This year more than ever, we join millions of women, girls and men around the world to demand an end to sexual assault and domestic violence. Here in Gloucester, as in many other communities of the U.S. we have been reviewing and strengthening our workplace procedures to assure sexual harassment is prevented. Please join us. ONE BILLION RISING is your opportunity to break the silence and speak out to express outrage at the number of girls and women who endure these injustices.”
WE WILL NOT BE SILENT ABOUT ABUSE Bring pots, pans and noisemakers to demand change DEMAND JUSTICE FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS City Hall February 14, 2017 at 3:00 p.m.
Cape Ann TV has great news: the Gloucester Inauguration 2018 video is ready for viewing. Erich Archer and Becky Tober remind viewers that the Cape Ann TV “camera system at city hall is still in standard definition and the quality is an issue because of the old equipment. Also, an electrical issue interrupted coverage an hour or so into the recording.” There’s more exciting news from Cape Ann TV: they’re replacing and upgrading all of the City Hall equipment soon.
Besides viewing it on Youtube, you can look for it on Cape Ann TV. It will be playing on CAPE ANN TV Channel 20
Monday January 8 at 6 PM
Tuesday January 9 at 9 AM
Thursday January 11 at 5 PM
Sunday January 14 at 9 PM
gmg post with short video snippets from the first floor
Here are a few brief (less than 30 seconds each) sound snippets from the 2018 City of Gloucester Inauguration Celebration including Gordon Baird (God Bless America), Alexandra Grace, Josh Cominelli (National Anthem, You’ve Got A Friend), Fly Amero, John Ronan recitation (poem We, Helmsmen), Charlee Bianchini & Jack Tomaiolo (Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow). To see great photos and portraits of the day, see Kim Smith’s post Inspiring City of Gloucester Inauguration Ceremony 2018. To see the printed program and the Mayor’s full remarks, visit the city website: http://gloucester-ma.gov/index.aspx?nid=956. I’ll add Cape Ann TV video link if/when it’s ready. Ray Lamont’s excellent coverage in the Gloucester Daily Times Taking the Oath of Office
Continue reading “City Hall acoustics Inauguration Celebration 2018”
