25 Sites in Greater Boston to Share Preservation Money

Grant will keep Hull carousel spinning
25 historic sites in Greater Boston to share $1 million

By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Correspondent | June 17, 2009

For more than 30 summers, Sandra Swartz would spend summers in Hull, where she would ride the wooden carousel at Nantasket Beach.

“It was always glistening,’’ said Swartz, 53, who grew up in East Milton and remembers birthday parties and weddings by the merry-go-round. Though in recent years its colors have faded, it still makes people smile, she said.

Now, caretakers of the 81-year-old icon have something to smile about, too. They will receive $100,000 to replace the 12 doors and more than 600 windowpanes on the handcrafted carousel, one of only 150 left in the country, and upgrade its safety features.

In a recent five-week online contest run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express Co., the Paragon Carousel was the winner of the popular vote, which guaranteed its funding. It was competing with other historic and cultural sites in Greater Boston for a portion of $1 million in preservation grants. In all, 25 will get funding.

The carousel is “just a place that brings people together, and I think, frankly, that’s why we won,’’ said Judeth Van Hamm, a board member of Friends of the Paragon Carousel.

The grant is a relief to the organization, which has struggled financially in recent years.

In the 1980s, three investors saved the attraction at an auction and moved it half a block from its original location, where it served the community for generations. But when the carousel was put on the market again 10 years later, the organization formed to buy it for about $1 million also acquired its $300,000 in mortgage debt, Van Hamm said.

Paying off that debt has kept them from renovating the site, she said.

“We were over-the-top excited,’’ Carl R. Katzeff, president of the carousel’s organization, said of receiving the grant. “The carousel is an icon of the heritage of Hull. It was always a destination for people of the city to enjoy the beach, but it is also a display of fine artisan work.’’

Eleven other sites were also chosen to receive grants of various amounts by a committee composed of representatives from Partners in Preservation and civic and preservation leaders from across the area. The grants were announced yesterday at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers and include:

Crane Estate in Ipswich, Edgell Memorial Library in Framingham, Eliot Congregational Church of Roxbury, José Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, Lowell’s Boat Shop, Museum of African American History in Boston, Old North Church, Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Salem Old Town Hall, United First Parish Church in Quincy, and Vilna Shul, Boston Center for Jewish Heritage.

The remaining 13 sites will receive $5,000 each.

The $100,000 in grant money will allow the Museum of African American History to restore the foundation of its building, which will be costly because of its location on Beacon Hill, said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director. The museum is home to Abiel Smith School, the first public school for black children.

“It is symbolic of public education; it’s symbolic of the need to educate all children,’’ Morgan-Welch said.

Vilna Shul received $90,800 to uncover one full wall of murals in its women’s gallery. The building, constructed in 1919, had its walls painted beige during the 1940s, said Steven Greenberg, executive director.

Underneath the paint are three layers of murals. “This is a very rare example of 20th century wall art,’’ Greenberg said. “There are very, very few examples in the country.’’

Since Partners in Preservation pledged to give $5.5 million in the next five years to historic places nationwide, it has awarded grants in San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans. But the Boston area has had the highest voter turnout in the online competition and the greatest excitement about raising the visibility of their community’s hidden gems, program members said.

Although not all of the sites won, they all “help tell the story about what makes this city’s history unique and special,’’ said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Jazmine Ulloa can be reached at lulloa@globe.com.
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