Residents of the coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts are at war over plans to demolish a historic dam built nearly 400 years ago.
The town of Ipswich, in Essex County, about an hour north of Boston, was founded in 1634 and is one of the oldest surviving communities in the country.
The dam was built just three years later and now the city is preparing to vote on its preservation or removal. This is reported by the Boston Globe.
But some residents, who are fiercely proud of the area’s historical significance, are outraged, and signs reading “Save Our Dam” are popping up all over the city.
On the other side of the raging debate are those who want to “liberate the river,” which they say will do wonders for the ecosystem.
The Ipswich Dam, which has stood in one form or another in the center of the city for almost 400 years
The current version of the dam was built in 1880 and was later altered to power a nearby hosiery factory, but has not been used for that purpose since the 1930s.
The Ipswich River Dam has been the centerpiece of the community since approximately 142 years before America declared itself a nation free from the rule of King George III.
It’s just one of several ancient landmarks in the area, which has more First Period houses than anywhere else in the country – an architectural style developed between roughly 1626 and 1725 and used mainly by British settlers settling in the northeast settled.
But this usually sleepy community is torn by the ongoing debate over the dam, which will come to a head on May 21 when residents vote on whether to keep the dam or settle for the past.
The current version was built in 1880 and later adapted to power a nearby hosiery factory, but it has not been used for that purpose since the 1930s.
Currently, the two-meter high dam fulfills two main functions. First, to block migratory fish and ocean tides coming upstream, and second, to create a mile-long reservoir of fresh water known as Mill Pond.
Mill Pond has been a local spot for water activities for years, including swimming and floating when the weather is nice, and ice skating during the colder months.
The city, which owns the dam, has been considering how to proceed with planning for its future since 2012, when financial concerns about its maintenance arose.
These financial considerations are quite minimal because the dam does not do much and therefore requires little maintenance.
Still, when these concerns first arose, city leaders ordered a study into the dam’s possible removal.
Last May, 68 percent of voters at a city council meeting said they were in favor of removing the dam
Now the people of Ipswich will vote again. Some who live near Mill Pond, or who have spent a lot of time there during the warmer months, are calling for “saving the dam.”
The historic river marker has created a mile-long area called Mill Pond, where those who live nearby come to swim and float in the summer and skate in the winter.
Children play, dogs swim and small boats paddle on the river, which remains partly calm thanks to the Ipswich Dam
An old image of the Ipswich Dam at a time closer to the time when it served a purpose beyond stopping the flow of the ocean’s tides and the path that fish swim upstream
The Ipswich River Watershed Association has carried out a number of studies to determine what impact removing the rather nondescript dam could have on the area and the community.
A year ago, 68 percent of those who voted at a city council meeting supported its demolition. But now the final decision rests with Ipswich council, which has asked people to vote on the issue again, this time through a formal ballot.
Although the vote is technically non-binding, the board has indicated it will support the will of the people. But the will of the people is currently divided.
Many of those who live along Mill Pond and have the most to lose aesthetically from its removal are against it.
“We feel like this is being rammed down our throats with minimal community involvement, and there are still a lot of concerns and uncertain benefit,” Eric Krathwohl, who lives on Mill Pond, told the Globe.
“This is a well-established, beautiful ecosystem, and removing the dam would have serious impacts on recreation. They never gave a fair chance to alternatives.”
Steve Calder, who also lives on the silent river, is equally reluctant to throw away centuries of history.
‘This is a little treasure that has been here for 400 years. Does it really make sense to change all this in the hope that a few fish will swim by?’ he said.
On the other side of the debate is Carol Bousquet, who thinks the dam is old, useless and long past its removal date.
“This is simply about returning our river to what it should be. And it will enable new, transformative recreational activities that will take paddlers all the way from river to river [Crane Beach]while improving water quality and allowing spawning fish to return,” she, a leader of the Friends of the Free River movement, said.
The Old Choate Road Bridge spans the River Ipswich. The body of water is surrounded on all sides by colonial houses that were preserved from 300 to 400 years ago – long before the official founding of America
A young girl looks out over the Ipswich Dam, which the city’s residents will vote to remove or keep on May 21
A brightly painted mural on the wall of an old brick mill on the riverbank in Ipswich
Neil Shea, project director for the Ipswich River Watershed Association, which has been investigating what could happen if the dam is removed, said its destruction would do wonders for the river’s ecosystem.
“The benefits of removing dams would be enormous in lowering water temperatures and increasing dissolved oxygen, which is important for all aquatic organisms, not just fish,” he said.
However, he added that those who fear what the area will look like after the dam’s removal are well within their rights to feel that way.
‘Aesthetics are subjective, and I can’t say it will look better, because that is also subjective. “If they like it the way it is now and don’t want it to change, that’s valid,” he said.
“Many people consider that area a magical ecosystem, but I will say this: the animals are there despite the dam, not because of it. There is reduced water quality; it’s not a particularly hospitable place to live.”