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07/11/2019 12:01 AMHave you noticed the changing face of our town? Gone is the old Atlantic Wire mill, perhaps someday to fulfill a developer’s dream of residential units and shops. Driving past the Community House, I see the ongoing construction that will combine the recreation department with the senior citizens center. Close by on Meadow Street, next to The Eel Pot, the substation is being dismantled and reconfigured by Eversource. The Walsh Intermediate School is also undergoing a massive renovation that has already begun to transform the school grounds.
In the 4th Ward, the old Pontiac Garage, having been reborn several times before, most notably as Perfect Party, is now home to Tyco Print & Promo. Just a little further over on Main Street toward downtown is the old Squeri Agency building, which has traded its white storefront for a brick appearance. Across the street in a building that housed various doctors’ offices, another construction project is transforming the property from which my own doctor once operated. None of this is to forget the massive renovation that the train station underwent in the not-too-distant past.
These are places that hold memories for many of us. My aunt would have her hair done in the Squeri Agency building where her hairdresser was then located. Perfect Party was just a short walk up Monroe Street to grab a birthday card. The Senior Citizens Center located in the old Canoe Brook School was where I picked up the bus and was dropped off before and after kindergarten and, although I never attended Walsh Intermediate, I spent countless hours playing basketball in the gym and swimming in the pool. Speaking of countless hours, I spent quite a few in the gym and game room at the Community House.
Change is good, we all tell ourselves, but if that is true, then why do I resist it so much? Perhaps because it is familiar and I don’t have to think so much. It just feels right. Many say that we are especially averse to change in this part of the country, but as Bob Dylan once sang, “the times, they are a-changing.” And the buildings. And the landscape. And our town.
Mike Russo is a Branford native and would love to hear reader ideas for future articles. He can be reached at totoket42@gmail.com.