To the Fairhaven Residents and Town Meeting Members:
May 5th the Town Meeting Members will be asked to vote upon Article 14 section G: to Preserve and Restore Rogers School Building.
We urge town meeting members to support this. This funding is fiscally wise and is a financially solid economic decision.
In funding this project, you are preventing deterioration and preserving the building for future use. The article asks for $252,000 for repairs to the building that should keep it preserved for 10 years.
One of the avenues currently being explored is public/private partnerships, which will bring economic benefits to the town.
The front of the Rogers School (TOP) last September, 2017, and the back (BOTTOM) of the school with a mural that covers up vandalism that the building has been subjected to since it became empty. Neighb News file photos by Beth David.
Included in this funding of the 1885 Rogers building is: listing on the National Historic Register, now enabling the ability to apply for federal and state grants and other various resources. Without this designated historic listing, you simply cannot apply for any grants or benefits.
This request submitted by our Town Administrator is also supported by the Board of Selectmen and the Rogers Study Committee.
The designated Rogers property comprises almost an acre of land in the center of our historic town. We must preserve the historical integrity of the first gift to our town by our benefactor, Henry Huttleston Rogers.
The Rogers School was the first forward thinking school in Fairhaven. The main requirement to the town was that children of any religious background can attend and get an education and succeed at life such as he himself did.
The school building design by famed architect Warren Briggs has become a permanent fixture of our towns’ historic skyline. We need to continue to foster and grow that forward thinking philosophy in preserving this building and begin the process to get it ready for future use.
We must be willing to preserve and maintain all our historic buildings which make our seaside, scenic and historic Fairhaven a very special place to live and raise our families for future generations to come.
Don’t let us become so accustomed to seeing these town jewels that when they are gone we look someday and say…What happened?
Please Vote YES on Article 14 section G.
Thank you for your support.
The Rogers Study Committee
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