A Visit to the Former Chestnut Junior High

I stopped by the former Chestnut Junior High School the other day to check things out and snap a few photographs. The city announced big plans for its redevelopment. The building looks like it's in great shape - on the outside, anyway. The neighborhood is almost entirely made up of the same multi-family houses that are so typical of the older neighborhoods in Springfield - the kind which so many poor families now-a-days call home. There is a church nearby, on Prospect Street, where some churchgoers were just getting out as I finished up my visit. Mercy Hospital is just around the corner aways, and Baystate Medical Center is further north up Chestnut Street.

I wish Springfield would find buyers for its old buildings before building new ones. It's really hurt this city a lot.

For more on the redevelopment project, here's a link to Mark Alamed's blog post over at Exploring Western Mass.



Above: Taken on Prospect Street. The church is behind me, off to my left.



Above: Prospect Street and the north side of the former school.
(See the church.)





Above: Directly in front of the building.


Above: The south side of the building.


Above: Looking north up Chestnut Street.


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