Dalton Historical Navigates Needs for 2nd Historic District
DALTON, Mass. — The Historical Commission is navigating through "confusing" technical details and documentation requirements to establish the proposed second historic district.
The proposed district starts at Park Avenue, where Main Street Cemetery is, and goes down to Depot Street. It then goes up High and North Streets.
Commissioners have been working to gather material for the state Historical Commission but have encountered uncertainty about the documentation needed and the format to send it in.
In a recent email exchange, a representative from the state Historical Commission stated that the commission needs a datasheet for the entire proposed district, said co-Chair Deborah Kovacs.
This should include existing Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System maps, addresses and a list of all buildings in the district by street in alphabetical order.
In addition, the state needs the commission to create a "master map of the whole area" showing the location of the district's subsections.
The district separated its proposed second historic district into five subsections.
The photo captions have to be in a datasheet format, including the photo number, street address, historic name, and date. He cautioned against using 1900 as a default date, the email said.
The representative offered to help if they had technical issues with the required documentation.
It was also found that some of the town's information, including the dates of the historical structures and location, conflicts with the information in MACRIS.
Co-Chair Louisa Horth said one factor contributing to their confusion is that the MACRIS addresses do not match the pictures.
Kovacs said Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson emphasized that the commission needs to spend the $5,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act grant by the Dec. 31 deadline, even if it is just a written and signed contract.
According to Hutcheson, the funds must be used to establish the district and can not be used on other historical commission initiatives, Kovacs said.
The commission requested the grant to hire a preservation specialist. However, it was later found that this could not be done until the state confirmed there is enough historical significance in the area to justify exploring establishing the proposed district.
Due to the obstacles they have faced during this process, the commissioners were unsure if they could meet that deadline.
If the town does not spend the funds by the deadline, they go back to the federal government. This will be discussed further at the Sept. 23 Select Board meeting, Executive Assistant Alyssa Maschino said.
After establishing the town's first historic district, the previous commission started the process of establishing the proposed second one but was unable to complete it because of budget and time constraints, Kocas said.
A majority of the commissioners involved in the Craneville District designation are no longer part of the Historical Commission.
Commissioner Mary Walsh, who was involved in the process of establishing the Craneville District, said the town hired preservation specialist Norene Roberts for guidance.
She had compiled information for the first district and part of the second district. Roberts passed away in 2022.
When the commission resumed its efforts to establish its proposed second historic district, they believed they could continue where they left off but soon realized that was not the case because there had been too many changes in the area.
Tags: historic district, historical commission,
