Some Angered by Loss of Barn

By Josh Press
of the Milford Daily News

A red 19th-century barn the Historical Society once hoped to call its future home has been demolished, leaving the group's members seething.

"We're extremely upset by it," said Historical Commission Chairman Barbara Burke. "Myself in particular. I was born in Upton, so it makes me feel, one stone at a time, I'm losing my childhood."

The 1,850-square-foot, three-story structure, formerly located on the corner of Mendon and Grove streets and just down the road from the house Burke has lived in since 1954, was unexpectedly destroyed Aug. 19.

A long driveway leading to a new red house and a parcel of land where the barn sat -- which has since been smoothed over with fresh dirt -- is all that remains on the 2.3-acre parcel.

The land is currently for sale by Afonso Real Estate, which bought it in June 2004 from Wayland resident Brett Downer.

Tina Afonso, owner of Afonso Real Estate, said the barn simply wasn't one of the property's selling points.

"We actually tried to keep the barn, but the comments we got from (past) potential buyers is that they didn't want it," she said. "It's been for sale since October 2004 and we thought the barn could have been an asset to the property, but it didn't end up that way."

At one time during the 1950s, one of Burke's cousins owned the property.

"In a way it's like a death," said Burke, who was in Nova Scotia at the time the barn was taken down and didn't find out about what happened until she returned almost a week later. "And what disturbs everyone is that it was taken off into Dumpsters and carted away to who knows where."

The barn -- which featured a large silo in one corner -- and a house right beside it, were built in 1870 by Nahum Hall, and each was occupied by seven generations of the Hall family. The Halls raised cattle and chickens and even sold eggs, hay, animal feed and lamp oil at a store in West Upton, said Burke.

The barn itself was last used last summer by George Furst and Young Su Park -- Furst to store his antique and collectible car collection, while Park had an art studio in the first-floor annex.

Downer originally owned 3 acres at 105 Grove St. before he subdivided it last January. The barn sat on the 2.3-acre site and the older home, which Downer sold to Jonathan and Kelly Graves last February, lay on the remaining .74 acres.

In March, Downer offered the Historical Society the opportunity to buy the barn and land for $175,000. Despite an aggressive fund-raising campaign, the group was only able to collect $29,000 for its building fund before Downer opted to sell it to Afonso for $197,500 in June 2004, essentially ending the society's hopes to call the barn its new headquarters.

Following the purchase, Afonso built a new house behind the barn before obtaining a demolition permit June 24 from the Department of Code Enforcement, according to department secretary Jennifer Deeter.

It was that same day Burke said she talked with a woman representing Afonso who came in to get the permit. Burke said she told the woman she had a list of companies that would have either moved the barn in its entirety or taken it down piece by piece and reconstructed it in another location.

"She said she'd be very happy to work with us," said Burke, "but she never called back."

Further, an individual recently came forward and expressed interest in buying the property to use the barn as a woodworking shop, said Burke.

"We're confused for the simple reason that the gentleman interested in buying the barn and new house was going to open a shop there," said Burke, who didn't know the potential buyer's name. "The Wednesday before it came down, he talked with (Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman) John Lebrun and told him what his plans were and to discuss certain restrictions and legalities with the property."

Lebrun was equally taken aback.

"He called me on Thursday and then the thing was down on Friday," he said. "Someone from the Historical Commission called and told me and I was like, 'What're you talking about? I thought this guy was going to buy it.'"

Afonso said she has not had any discussions with anyone recently about purchasing the property.

"Nobody ever talked to us," she said.

Although the society's chance to buy the barn is nearly a year past, some members are still left wondering what could have been.

"It was a vision of ours to purchase it," said society member Ellen Arnold, whose group is housed on the second floor of the Knowlton--Risteen Building at 2 Main St. "In the short term, we would have had to renovate it and put a new roof on it. In the long term, we wanted to use it as office space, a museum, small gift shop and an area to be used for meetings.

"That barn really had a lot of significance and potential."

With its building fund up to about $35,000, the society is continuing its fund-raising efforts toward the purchase of a new dwelling.

The group hopes to collect donations at Heritage Weekend on Oct. 1-2 and, for the second year in a row, Henderson Properties will run a candlelight tour of old houses sometime in December.

Donations can also be sent to the society at P.O. Box 171, Upton, MA 01568.