Chelsea Depot--across from the livery!
Wednesday, Sept. 30, beginning at 7 p.m.
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John Albert Conlan bought the Chelsea House Livery-feed and 10 Cent Barn in 1911
Picture courtesy of David Lixey
North Main Street view of the Chelsea Tribune Newspaper
Business started in late 1907 in the Mack Building. Photo courtesy of Chelsea Area Historical Society
As a big fan of the Chelsea Farmers Markets, I would like to see them continue year-round. It would be nice to have an indoor space for them to operate during the winter. The UP has several of these scattered around and they are very popular. It strikes me that the LIVERY would be an ideal place for an indoor market - maybe year round there. There's good parking and you wouldn't need to be concerned with rain/snow. Jan
ReplyDeleteAn indoor farmers' market is one of the many ideas tossed around for the livery. Others are: an indoor performance venue, teen center, artists' cooperative....But, if the livery goes down...those ideas cannot take root. Creative solutions take time, but the stay of demolition runs out on Oct 19. The next City Council meeting is Oct 13. People MUST show up to voice their concerns. Everyone who cares about this cannot wait to act.
ReplyDeleteI attended the meeting last night at the Depot. I was fascinated by the history and the compelling reasons to keep the Livery, and want add my voice to those who support saving the building. Our Livery is one of the few remaining in the state and with its location in the “transportation corridor” making it even more unique. I feel that every effort should be exhausted to repurpose the building before demolition is considered.
ReplyDeleteTwo things were brought to my understanding of the situation last night at the meeting. One is that there is a deeper richer history in Chelsea then I even knew. I must have walked by the Livery hundreds of times in my life and never really “saw” it until recently. It was the same way with the Train Depot, until they tried to knock it down. Now it’s a Historical Landmark and a draw for Historical Tourism for the City. The other is the fact that the issue of demolishing the Livery has been going on much longer then the public is aware. In talking with others who live in the area of the Depot, this project had been being planned for almost 2 years. In that 2 year the steps by the DDA to consider saving the Livery were minimal to say the least. All the assessment has been to investigate demolition rather then repurposing the Livery. The only grant that has been investigated is one that would cover the cost of demo....This seems to be a similar situation to the Depot. Like with the Depot, when the clock began to run out, the public started to get wind of the plans and acted.
I just read the minutes from the today’s DDA meeting and it looks a though we have the winter to come up with grant, donations, etc. to purchase or repurpose the livery. Unfortunately, this was not due to public outrage for the demolition (I’m sure there would have been a larger public turnout if the meetings were held at a more accessible TIME - 7:30am on a weekday…really…) but due to the fact that it is too late in the year to demolish and treat the site. My hope is that we can get the word out and save this building, like the Depot, and I plan on supporting this effort and being more and more involved with historical preservation in Chelsea. Garry K. Klink