Must Read: John McElhenny’s Piece In The Gloucester Daily Times

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To the editor:

Thank you for the Rev. Rona Tyndall’s beautifully written Midweek Musing (Opinion page, the Times, Wednesday, Feb. 8) about changes under way in the Fort neighborhood.

I don’t think what makes Gloucester special is any collection of buildings or single neighborhood.

When the houses along the harbor side of Stacy Boulevard were cleared a century ago, some people didn’t like the change. Today the Boulevard is one of the most beautiful places in Gloucester, bringing people together every day for exercise, walks with family and to see old friends.

In the 1940s and ’50s, a neighborhood of small houses grew up in Burnham’s Field. Eventually the houses fell and were removed.

For the entire piece click here

5 thoughts on “Must Read: John McElhenny’s Piece In The Gloucester Daily Times

    1. Not to mention Urban Renewal, that ripped the guts out of the City, and Blackburn Industrial Park, most of which ended up in Chapter 11; and the abandoned Strip Mines that comprised a once “thriving” Granite Industry. Why wasn’t that mess cleaned up? Or added as an extension to the Halibut Point State Park, or a “Community Garden? Short money and Benign Neglect are the Reigning Developmental Models in Gloucester. It’s time the mouths of Gift Horses get looked into, and Pigs in Pokes examined and verified. It’s time to stop being taken for Suckers, Gloucester!

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  1. FYI- Those buildings that were on Allen St in the late 40’s and early 50’s did not fall down. They were temporary housing after WW 2 and Korea for veterans and their families,my parents knew this because # 19 Allen was their house and they knew the neighbor hood well,knew all the families there. Allen St used to go straight through all the way to Burnham St until about 1962 or ’63 when they filled in the street and expanded the field.I was about 5 or 6 years old when this happened. The old barracks were torn down in the early 50’s and as a child remember remnants of the old roads betwen those buildings. I lived there on Allen the first 44 years of my life before I sold it. Still miss the old neighborhood and still remember almost every family that lived there when I did.

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    1. Thank you for the memories, John. Your good memories have paved the way for ours. We’re living in your house at 19 Allen. I hope my children some day have the same great memories of growing up here as you do. It’s a good neighborhood.

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