ADAMS, Mass. — More than 100 years of history came crashing down on Monday morning as the former Commercial Street School was demolished.
The building was owned by Commercial Street School LLC, which purchased the nearly one-acre lot at 87 Commercial from Aladco in 2014 for $125,000. The manager of the LLC is David Desmarais, owner of Aladco. The property was being used for parking for the laundry company across the street and warehousing.
The three-story building hadn't been used as a school in nearly 40 years. The structure was built between 1882-3 along with two other grammar schools accommodate the town's burgeoning population.
"It's always regrettable when a historic structure is demolished especially a school that may have fond memories for many former students and faculty," said Eugene Michalenko, a member of both Historical Commission and Historical Society. "Considering that new uses were found for the other former neighborhood schools, losing one to a wrecking ball leaves a bitter twitch in our community's memory."
Michalenko said the neighborhood around the school had grown up very quickly the year before its construction because of the opening of the Jacquard Mill, built by Renfrew Manufacturing Co. on Harmony Street. The now vacant mill had later been home to Dewey & Almy, W.R. Grace and MacDermid Corp.
The Commercial Street School was similar in structure, he said, to Renfrew School "but it was more graceful in architecture."
There were eight rooms serving children up to Grade 6 and it was designed for 350 students although in 1924, Michalenko said, only 229 were enrolled. When the new high school opened in 1969, Commercial and two other schools became kindergarten through Grade 3 and Renfrew was closed. When Proposition 2 1/2 was enacted in 1981 and severe budget cuts resulted, those three schools were closed.
While the school is now gone, its bell is on display at Hoosac Valley Elementary School.
Adams Excavating Co. made short work of the building on Monday and by afternoon it was mostly leveled. The demolition permits were filed in early April.
Aladco has no official plans on file for the soon to be open area and nothing has yet gone before the Planning Board.
This is the second large structure to be removed from the highly trafficked Commercial Street. A vacant building at 50 Commercial St., built in 1921 as an automotive garage, was demolished by the town last year because of its deteriorating condition.
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Adams Review Library, COA and Education Budgets
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen reviewed the public services, Hoosac Valley Regional School District and McCann Technical School budgets on Tuesday.
The workshop at the Adams Free Library was the third of four joint sessions to review the proposed $19 million fiscal 2025 budget. The first workshop covered general government, executive, finance and technology budgets; the second public works, community development and the Greylock Glen.
The Council on Aging and library budgets have increases for wages, equipment, postage and software. The Memorial Day budget is level-funded at $1,450 for flags and for additional expenses the American Legion might have; it had been used to hire bagpipers who are no longer available.
The COA's budget is up 6.76 percent at $241,166. This covers three full-time positions including the director and five regular per diem van drivers and three backup drivers. Savoy also contracts with the town at a cost of $10,000 a year based on the number of residents using its services.
Director Sarah Fontaine said the governor's budget has increased the amount of funding through the Executive Office of Elder Affairs from $12 to $14 per resident age 60 or older.
"So for Adams, based on the 2020 Census data, says we have 2,442 people 60 and older in town," she said. "So that translates to $34,188 from the state to help manage Council on Aging programs and services."
The COA hired a part-time meal site coordinator using the state funds because it was getting difficult to manage the weekday lunches for several dozen attendees, said Fontaine. "And then as we need program supplies or to pay for certain services, we tap into this grant."
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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The Selectmen on Wednesday night voted to award the bid to Mackin Construction Co. Inc. of Greenfield, which plans to invest $11 million to build out 20 or more one- and two-bedroom apartments in the three-story classroom wing that parallels Columbia Street.
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The Selectmen two weeks ago had requested the utility appear before the board after receiving numerous complaints over flickering lights, including in Town Hall.
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Taylor Garabedian scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds, and Abby Scialabba scored 16 points for the ‘Canes, who got 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Ashlyn Lesure. click for more
