By DEVON FULLER
The building at 24 Center Street had seen better days. In the past it had housed the town printing press but now it just housed memories of times gone by. Virginia Russell, along with Lorraine and Warren Kimble, devised a plan to purchase and remove the rundown old building and replace it with a park for the people of Brandon to enjoy. The building was taken down, with the bricks and anything else of value sold to help with the cost of building what we now know as Green Park. Much of the building was repurposed as part of the park, like the benches and half-circle wall made from pieces of the foundation and window lintels. The number of volunteers that worked to make this happen was amazing.
“There are so many that it’s hard to recall them all” according to Warren Kimble.
They came from all walks of life: designers, gardeners, stone workers, commercial builders, lawyers, doctors, local shop owners, and just anyone that wanted to help. They got involved in such a project for the greater good of the community they live in and “for the fun.” Mr. Kimble notes that “it’s all about having fun.”
As the plans for the park grew, so did the need for funding. Thus, another great idea was hatched: the selling of engraved bricks to help with the cost. It really is quite fun and interesting to take a moment to read the bricks in Green Park and see the diversity of people, families, and business involved in making this dream come to life.
That was the beginning of Green Park, located across from the Brandon town offices, and the beginning of the Downtown Brandon Alliance (DBA). 24 Center Street was the address of the old building that had once housed the Brandon print shop, as shown on the Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1921. Prior to that, the land and building were part of John Conant’s iron works. How does the Downtown Brandon Alliance have anything to do with the history of John Conant and the old Printing Press of Brandon? It goes back to the idea hatched by the Kimble’s and Ms. Russell to remove the eyesore of a derelict building and create something beautiful in its place.
As the park idea grew, the folks at the center of the project came across a new program being rolled out by the state of Vermont. This was the Designated Downtown program that modeled itself after the national Main Street America program established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Main Street America began its mission of working with a nationwide network of coordinating programs and local communities to bring economic vitality to historic downtowns in 1980. Brandon tapped into this great organization in the year 2001 thanks to the Green Park project and the foresight of the Russell/Kimble collaboration. Vermont’s Designated Downtown program provides towns that are accepted into the program with professional consulting, preferred grant status, tax incentives, and the opportunity to collaborate with other towns in the program, helping historic towns in Vermont to build economic vitality.
Over the years, downtowns in many parts of the country had begun to slowly fall into decline as the big box stores took the lion’s share of retail business. When internet sales began to take off, the small towns of America took another punch in the economic gut (as did some of the big boys that had started the decline of historic downtowns.) So, to have programs like Main Street America and the Designated Downtown help small towns hold their own as the world of retail began to change has been a huge benefit. Economic vitality, design, promotion, fund raising, and organization are the five pillars that the programs rely on to help create strategies that improve the economic outcome of historic downtowns.
Through these two programs, the DBA has been able to collaborate with various local, state, and federal groups to improve the Brandon downtown. When the Green Park group applied for and received the honor of being part of the Vermont Designated Downtown program (there have been only 23 towns accepted), they used the address of the old iron works building—24 Center Street—as the name of their organization. Years later, the board of directors decided to change the name to Downtown Brandon Alliance. With this change, they were hoping to foster relationships with as many organizations as possible to work toward the improvement of Brandon’s downtown economic vitality.
After the 2011 flood from tropical storm Irene caused severe damage in Brandon, it began to look like our Town Offices would never return to the corner of Center Street and West Seminary. The power of the Designated Downtown grant program helped provide the money needed to renovate the town offices and create an overflow structure to prevent future flooding of our downtown.
The money needed for the renovation of the Brandon Town Office was provided “as long as” the town pursued the building of an overflow structure that would help protect the offices from being damaged by future flooding. The overflow was built and has protected the Town Offices and the downtown core several times since its completion. Irene also managed to take a huge bite out of Green Park as the water flowed in its most natural direction. The small crabapple trees that once lined the fence were washed away along with the fence, the stone foundation benches, half-circle wall (yet to be repaired), and the bricks. Again, the good folks of Brandon volunteered their time to walk the Neshobe streambed below the park to find as many bricks as possible to be returned to the Green Park.
The DBA continues to work in the downtown core to keep it beautiful and festive. The summers in downtown Brandon are brighter and more cheerful because of the hard work that volunteers, working with the DBA, put into the creation, distribution, and maintenance of all the flowerpots up and down the sidewalks. The DBA also sponsors “Live at Kennedy Park” music twice each month during the summers. During the Christmas holiday season, the DBA has taken on the task, again with its great volunteers, of decorating the downtown with garlands and lights, plus gazebo decorations. The DBA worked with the Brandon Chamber of Commerce to do all we could to make the Route 7 Segment 6 project go as smoothly as possible. Does anyone remember the man in the orange tuxedo handing out cold bottles of water, or the road-construction creatures welcoming folks to Brandon? It’s an interesting fact that the Brandon not only didn’t lose any business during that massive project but added businesses during the two years of downtown reconstruction.
These are just a handful of the events and projects the DBA has taken on over the years in an effort to keep historic downtown Brandon as economically vibrant as possible. This all has been possible because four people had the dream of turn an old building into a beautiful park and a load of volunteers willing to work for a better Brandon.
DBA will continue to work with all to make Brandon the most inviting and business-friendly town in Vermont. To do this, we are always looking for people that are interested in becoming part of our fun-loving, dedicated group, as either board members or volunteers. So, if you find yourself interested in helping keep Brandon buzzing, we would love to hear from you. Our email is brandondba@yahoo.com or contact us through the Brandon Town Office.
Devon Fuller is the President of the Downtown Brandon Alliance
