Resident troubled by Selectmen's lack of respect to history

To the Editor:

In recent weeks the Selectmen of Westminster have displayed a troubling lack of respect for the history of the town which they have been elected to serve. In complete disregard of recommendations by the historical commission, they have arbitrarily agreed to the alteration of the historic Town Common. In complete disregard of the architectural and historical importance of the old Town Hall building, they have called for its destruction.

Such blatant disrespect for two elements of this wonderful town should lead residents to question the Selectmen's judgment as well as their awareness of the historical significance of those elements which they seek to alter or destroy. The Town Common, with its roots in the very foundation of Westminster and its ties to old English custom upon which American colonial history is based, should be maintained as it was described by Mary Peckham in 1909, "the green place on the Hill where nature holds sway ... in our hearts forever and aye." Mary Peckham, daughter of famed Westminster artist Robert Deacon Peckham, wrote this in "An Account of the Exercises Connected With the 150th Anniversary Celebration of the Town of Westminster Massachusetts 1909." Although her brother died a prisoner of war in the infamous Confederate Andersonville Prison during the Civil War, she had no desire to see the Common altered in any way to honor him or to memorialize the war dead.

The old Town Hall building, the other element now under attack by the selectmen, stands as a classic example of the Greek Revival style of architecture that spread across the United States in the early decades of the nineteenth century. More than just an architectural phenomenon, it celebrated the contributions of ancient Athenian democracy to the foundation of the United States and it symbolized the advance of democracy in this country, as voting rights were extended in the 1820s and 1830s. The old Town Hall in Westminster represents this vital chapter in local and national history and stood sentinel for almost 170 years while it provided generations of townspeople with offices for their town officials as well as a hall for their wedding receptions and anniversary parties, for their children's holiday pageants, and for the dances that brought the community together.

How tragic it is to observe that both the Town Common and the old Town Hall of Westminster have been given such cavalier disregard by the selectmen, particularly as the town's 250th celebration approaches in 2009. As one who took part in the festivities of the town's bicentennial anniversary in 1959 and whose extended family has enjoyed and respected both the Common and the Town Hall for almost 100 years, I am disheartened and discouraged by the actions of elected officials whose idea of celebrating their town's 250th anniversary is the mismanagement of one town treasure and the destruction of another.

Mary Lyons Westminster