An item in iBratt’s Today in Local History sent me on an Internet hunt on this lazy New Year’s Day.
Dummerston’s big block of granite landed just south of the Basketball Hall of Fame until 2008.
1886:
The largest piece of granite ever quarried at Dummerston, and the largest one, probably, that ever passed through Brattleboro was brought down on Monday [likely Dec. 28, 1885]. It was 12 feet long by 9 feet 6 inches wide, and 6 feet thick. It went to Springfield, Mass., where it will form the top step of the new jail entrance.
The York Street Jail in Springfield, Massachusetts opened in 1887 next to the noisy smoky rumbly railroad tracks on the Connecticut River. On the northeast side, there was an attractive stairway and an entrance about 6 feet above the foundation. I’m guessing that’s the “6 feet thick” granite block. But, there are many photos of the 2008 demolition with no clear picture of a huge granite block there.
The jail closed in 1992. There was an iconic sign visible for years from I-91: JAIL FOR SALE. I don’t remember that sign. It’s a nerve-and-bone-wracking elevated part of I-91 with frequent merges and thumpy expansion joints. We’ve all gotten off at Exit 6 for the last cheap gasoline before Conn-NY. That gas station is one block north of the now-demolished jail. I was always looking left or watching potholes and never saw the sign nor the huge brick building. I would have felt comforted had I known that a bit of the West River Valley was nearby.
To see the site, paste the next line into http://maps.google.com or Google Earth:
W+York+St,+Springfield,+MA
In Google Earth, use “Historical Imagery” (the counterclockwise arrow at top) to see the satellite imagery from before 2008. That will show you the jail. The circle to the north is the basketball part of the Basketball Hall of Fame. (The long shadow pinpoints the basketball on the pole; the circle is the architectural element.)
The Springfield Republican newspaper has a slideshow of the demolition:
http://photos.masslive.com/8001759/gallery/york_street_jail_demolition/i
The site is still for sale:
http://www.springfield-ma.gov/planning/index.php?id=yorkstreet
A jail may be demolished, but nobody demolishes a piece of granite 12x9x6 weighing 57 tons. Where is the block now?
Thanks for the details
I remember when I found this item in the old papers, and thought – “hey, that’s neat. It’s so big it is probably still there, so we can go see it.”
Nope.
57 tons on the run
Maybe it was removed at some point before the demolition – during an addition or renovation sometime in the past. Several photos here from when the jail was still standing:
http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning/fileadmin/Planning_files/ArrowStreet_York_Street_Jail_Study.pdf
It seems kind of crazy to
It seems kind of crazy to build a jail using an expensive 57-ton piece of stone for the sole purpose of making one step in an entrance way. So maybe the original news item was incorrect and it was never installed as one piece to begin with, but was actually sliced up at the time of the construction to make the whole stairway.
I remember the sign. It was
I remember the sign. It was up for years. Now when I travel south, I appreciate the bit of river one can see from the highway.