Council to Consider $2,000 for Memorial Marker for Don Orione Site

Mayor James J. Fiorentini is asking city councilors to approve $2,300 to erect granite markers at two Bradford locations.

council_agendaUnless you’ve lived in Haverhill for a decade or longer, you may not know that the upscale housing development known as Hale’s Landing sits on land that was once a summer camp run by a religious order and known as the Don Orione Seminary.

The site, off Groveland Road and visible from South Main Street, was at turns a summer camp for youth in need and home for adults with intellectual challenges.

Mayor James J. Fiorentini will ask the City Council when it meets Tuesday for $2,000 to pay for a granite marker to memorialize the property’s history.

“The history of Don Orione was essentially erased” when the property was sold 10 years ago and redeveloped, the mayor said.

The city-owned right of way at the intersection of Groveland and Robert roads would be an appropriate site for the marker, the mayor wrote to Council President John A. Michitson in his request for council approval of the expenditure, which would be taken from a capital account to fund historic recognition of Washington Landing Park.

The 2-foot wide by 14-inch tall Barre granite marker would read: “Former Site, Fathers of Divine Prividence Don Orione Seminary, Summer Camp for Needy Youth, Home for Intellectually Challenged Adults, 1958-2006, Directed by the Very Rev. Gino Marchesani, A Legendary and Beloved Figure.”

In addition, the mayor is asking for $300 to complete the city’s share of the cost of a marker Old Bradford Burial Ground on Salem Street. Haverhill’s Brightside and the Tenney Family Association each contributed $555 to the cost of the marker, which notes the location of the final place of rest for many of the founders of the city’s Bradford section.

The city paid $255 of its share in 2016, with a $300 balance due.

Atwood Memorial of Haverhill created the Bradford Burial Ground marker in 2016 and has been commissioned to complete the Don Orione memorial as well, the mayor said.

City Council is expected to vote on the request at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, beginning at 7 p.m., in the Theodore A. Pelosi Council Chambers on the second floor at Haverhill City Hall.

 

4 thoughts on “Council to Consider $2,000 for Memorial Marker for Don Orione Site

  1. Wasn’t that the site of the historical Hales Mansion? I didn’t think the builder was suppose to rip that mansion down. Another part of Haverhill history gone. Thanks mayor.

  2. ELECTION YEAR !

    Everything this incompetent mayor does from now until November will be to manipulate public perception that he someone has the best interests of Haverhill citizens in mind.