Town Administration Reviews Potential Relocation Sites for Municipal Civic Center-November 15, 1979

Polaroid Land Behind Oldham School and Hennessey-Keohane Fields Evaluated Alongside Decentralized Replacement Options

NORWOOD – As municipal leaders search for a viable solution following the sale of the municipal Civic Center property to Norwood Hospital for $2 million, Town Manager John J. Carroll disclosed that nine acres of Polaroid Corp. land behind the Oldham School is under active review as a potential relocation site. Speaking during a board meeting, Carroll explained that the administration is pursuing the land as a gift rather than a purchase, noting that Polaroid officials have made no formal commitment thus far. Access to the property could be established from Prospect Street through the Oldham school yard.

Simultaneously, Carroll directed attention to the 13.5-acre Hennessey-Keohane fields off Pleasant Street, bounded by Pleasant and Cross streets and Lenox Avenue. Norwood architect John R. Perry generously donated his services to prepare preliminary site drawings showcasing a centralized complex featuring a recreation building, ball fields, and tennis courts with parking that could also serve the Pleasant Park Playground. Selectmen agreed to schedule a public neighborhood meeting for November 27 to gather local feedback, though Selectman Walter J. Dempsey and William J. Plasko debated whether public consultation was premature given the preliminary planning stages. An alternative decentralized option—involving a new pool at the high school, a gym at the Aaron Guild School, and playing fields at Eliot Park—was also presented ahead of a December 3 Special Town Meeting request for $25,000 to fund hard-cost engineering studies.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger