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Student Leaders: Connor Horn, Emily Tibbetts, and Donovan Biersteker
In the mid to late 19th century, there were nine train stations in Danvers. Without a bridge between Salem and Beverly, Danvers served as an important hub to the Northshore. Today, only one of the nine stations remains: the Plains Train Station. The Plains Train Station, built in 1868, is on property owned by Townsend Energy. Townsend Energy bought the property in 2001 and began efforts to donate the building shortly thereafter.
While there have been ongoing efforts to save the building, there has been a lack of support in the community, primarily because of the costs involved. Although the building is in relatively good condition, the price of relocating and renovating it is projected to exceed a million dollars. The town does not currently have the money to fund the project and a vote at 11/15/21 town meeting to borrow the money was unsuccessful. If no further action is taken, the last Danvers train station and a chapter of the town's history will be lost.
Currently, Townsend is planning to demolish the building in order to build a garage to house their fleet of vehicles. The Danvers Preservation Commission enacted a demolition delay by-law which stops any demolition to the building until July of 2022. The demolition delay currently in effect will expire in July of 2022 which means we are currently limited on time.
Townsend Energy needs the train station removed so they can use that land to build garages for their trucks. While Townsend has been extremely patient and generous, agreeing to give the building to the Town of Danvers, the town has not agreed upon a location or means of financing the costs associated with moving and restoring it. Town Archivist Richard Trask believes this station is a very significant part of Danvers, and he, along with others, has been trying to save in since 2003. Trask claims it is a "highly detailed building" and "one of the most architecturally significant buildings in Danvers still standing."
The following timeline captures the efforts to save the station over the past nineteen years:
The Existing Public Policy:
The existing public policy for the demolition delay in the Town of Danvers is meant to “assist in preserving and enhancing the Town of Danvers' historical and cultural heritage by preserving, rehabilitating, or restoring, whenever possible, buildings or landmarks with distinctive architectural features or historical associations that contribute to the historic fabric of the Town.”
The by-law defines demolition as “Any act of pulling down, destroying, removing, razing, or moving a building or landmark, or any portion thereof, or commencing the work of relocating or of total or substantial destruction of a building or landmark, or portion thereof, with the intent of completing the same.” Removing wood to contribute to our project before the demolition date is not permitted.
The Current Issue:
In 2006 the town received many donations from local businesses to help purchase the Hobart Street parking lot from the MBTA. Many believed the train station should not be moved to this parking lot because both companies and local organizations donated some of the money to help the buy the lot. Opponents of this location believed it would be morally wrong to move the train station here and take up parking spaces the local businesses and church helped to pay for. However, people on the other side of this issue claim it would not be morally incorrect to take up the spots of the lot because the money the town acquired was a donation from the local businesses and the church. This donation did not therefore equate to ownership of the lot. The Hobart Street lot would have been the perfect location due to its proximity to the rail trail. There was increased hope in 2016 when language earmarked $750k for the relocation project. The town approval to move the station depended on the state funding, so when that did not materialize the plan failed. As of April 2022 there is no plan in place to save the station.
Rationale for local government involvement:
We need the support of the Preservation Commission to ensure that any efforts on our part to remove wood from the structure do not violate the demo delay by-law. The current law is in effect until July 1, 2022. Our hope is that there is a last minute solution that would save the station; however, if this does not happen by June 20, 2022, we are seeking permission to remove wood from the interior of the building. This wood will be used to create artifacts in our manufacturing and design class at Danvers High School.
The bylaw states that the Town "seeks to document those structures which cannot be saved through photographic, video and/or written materials and to preserve these materials as part of the public record through the Town Archives." Our proposal will complement these efforts by creating a table that will be used at the high school, hopefully in a section of the building that also displays historic images of the station.
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