Erica Swallow, president of the Springfield Preservation Trust, speaks to a crowd where a 25-foot granite bench stood until July. The organization is calling for the bench to be returned.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — The park in Stearns Square dates from the end of the 18th century, a green oasis in downtown Springfield. But amid the large trees, manicured grass and brick paths is a jagged hole surrounded by yellow sawhorses — all that remains of a long, pink granite bench that sat on the site for 137 years. And the residents want it back.
In 1881, U.S. Rep. Chester William Chapin commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens and architect Sanford White to create a sculpture of his ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, along with the “turtle fountain” and the bench in Stearns Square. The park was unveiled on Thanksgiving Day in 1887. While “The Puritan,” as the statue is known, was moved to Merrick Park in 1899, the fountain and bench remained.
“Imagine all that the Stearn’s Square bench has seen,” said Erica Swallow, president of the Springfield Preservation Trust, during a press conference about the bench.
The bench, measuring 5 feet wide by 25 feet long, was repointed and cleaned in 2019 as part of a $1.9 million renovation of the park. But in late July, just after this year’s annual Jazz and Roots Festival took place in the park, the bench was removed.
“This is a public park. The people determine how our parks and our public places are utilized,” Swallow asserted.
A perceived lack of transparency is one of the major grievances stated by the trust regarding the bench’s removal. “Transparency is a cornerstone of democracy,” Swallow said.
Swallow had reached out to Thomas Ashe, director of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management to learn why the bench was removed and about its condition. She had been told the bench was “a potential hazard and a public safety concern” due to “several structural issues,” namely cracks and “large chunks were missing and there were sharp edges on the ends due to cement falling off.” Ashe reportedly said the bench was at the Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management yard at Forest Park awaiting repairs. With a “quite costly” quote for the work, Swallow said a city councilor she contacted had followed up with Ashe and was given a quote of $30,000 to $50,000 for the repairs. She declined to specify which councilor she spoke with.
Photo credit: Don Treeger/The Republican
A day after the press conference, Ashe released a statement that read, “The bench previously located in Stearns Square Park was removed due to concern for public safety. The bench had cracks and was sinking into the ground at an angle. Currently, the bench is being safely stored by our department and we are assessing pricing for repair.”
Eyewitnesses
The explanations from Ashe did not satisfy the trust. Among the reasons for their skepticism were eyewitness accounts of the bench’s removal, including people who said the bench was demolished and the rubble was shoveled into a truck. David Murray, an unhoused person who spends time in the park, said he saw a private company remove the bench in pieces and load it on a flatbed truck. “They started on Monday and finished on Tuesday,” he told Reminder Publishing.
Despite the reports of those who said the bench was destroyed, the bench is currently sitting in sections on half a dozen pallets at the yard.
Swallow also said she had been told it may be used in the veterans’ memorial garden under construction in Forest Park, although the plans do not call for a large seating area.
During the press conference, Swallow said several residents did not want to speak publicly “because the city is quite vindictive.” Nonetheless, resident Robert Loesch read a statement from the Metro Center Neighborhood Association president, who said the bench’s “unexpected absence” has left “a hole in Stearns Square and the neighborhood.”
Kristin Neville, founder of Blues to Green and organizer of the Jazz and Roots Festival, said, “The bench became a gathering point where people came together to experience the festival.” She said her brother has shared stories with her of people he has met sitting on the bench during the event and called it “a point of connection where lives intersected” and “a symbol of community.”
Nels Frye, a resident and blogger for The Springfieldian, said, “The city isn’t really being handled downtown in a way that works for downtown.” Addressing city leadership, he said, “Don’t hide behind the process, claiming this didn’t happen or whatever. Bring back the bench.”
Unhoused
Beth Zanetta lives on the block. She said that the bench removal is the latest in a string of actions that she believes the city has taken to discourage unhoused people from spending time in the park. Last fall, she said the park was fenced off with signs that stated the grass in Stearns Square was being reseeded, although she denied that work was ever done. Once the park was reopened, she said the metal park benches were removed.
Zanetta also said the seats on some of the park benches in Tower Square have been removed. “They’re chasing these [unhoused] people from park to park. I don’t know where they think they’re going to go,” Zanetta said.
“The elderly miss the benches,” Murray said.
Another unhoused person commented, “A lot of us homeless people come sit here. They don’t got any place to go.”
Murray said police make him leave the park after 7 p.m., despite no signs stating that it is closed.
“‘Take a move,’ he tells me,” Murray recounted. “You don’t talk to me like that. I’m a 65-year-old man.”
Referring to the possibility that the bench was removed to keep unhoused people out of the park, Swallow said, “If you have a problem with the people of Springfield utilizing a public space and you think that the problem is the people, you should re-examine your values.” She also noted the fountain is not running and suggested it is to keep unhoused people from bathing under the water.
Swallow said she hopes the bench will be returned in time to see its 137th Thanksgiving.
Reminder Publishing reached out to Ashe and Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office for further comment. Neither responded as of press time.
