To: City of Chelsea Planning Commissioners and Magellan Properties
From: Janet Bernath, 238 Harrison Street, Chelsea
Date: November 20, 2007
Re: The Federal Screw Works property
I was born in Chelsea at 138 East Middle Street in 1940 during the brief time the house at that address served as a hospital. I graduated from Chelsea High School in 1958—a member of the last class to graduate from the high school on Harrison Street. The school complex was later demolished in 1987, and now four ordinary apartment buildings and parking lots are there. No visible links to the past remain on that site except a small, cement ledge once a part of an outdoor court area.
Upon graduation from high school, I left Chelsea. I chose to return to Chelsea almost two years ago after a 47 year absence. My decision to return was based on the kind of community Chelsea has become with:
- extraordinary opportunities for learning at the library and the Adult Learning Institute and active organizations that address current social issues and explore our past
- a wide array of art, theater and music, downtown festivals, and good restaurants to enjoy
This time I chose Chelsea, and I’m reveling in the place of my birth. Friends who now visit me in Chelsea love the architecture, galleries, shops, restaurants, and think I’m lucky to have relocated here. My friends always spend money here and contribute to the local economy.
My father, uncle and grandfather worked at the Federal Screw Works. Certainly our family economy was affected by the existence of the Federal Screw Works, as were the economies of many other families in the Chelsea area. Dad invented machine parts for production, even naming one of them, “The Martin Pick-Off Attachment” in honor of his grandfather. (See attached)
Why is my family’s story important? The story represents one of many families touched by the long industrial history of the company. Federal Screw Works was a part of the rich industrial history of Chelsea. (See attached summary of Chelsea’s Federal Screw Work History written by Kathy Clark and edited by Cary Church from the archives of Chelsea Area Historic Society)
For a time, my dad had a room in the old office building facing Main Street. Even as a child I thought it quite unique and special, but little did I know that the building was built in 1919 and is a fine example of the Victorian industrial style.
The office on Congdon Street was the management office—the “front office” was the term Dad used, I think. Built in 1925, it is representative of the “Art Deco” style and is one of the few of that style remaining in Chelsea.
These two office buildings on Federal Screw Works property are historically and architecturally significant and worth being saved and adaptively reused.
Chelsea’s northern gateway with its industrial and architectural heritage has been enhanced by McKinley Properties. The Clocktower Complex sets the stage for entry into the downtown area. Magellan Properties now has an opportunity to enhance the industrial and architectural heritage of the Federal Screw Works property along the southern gateway into the downtown area.
If done with sensitive care of our historical assets, the development of the Federal Screw Works site would serve as a tangible link from the past for future generations and positively affect Chelsea as a destination. I urge Magellan Properties to save and adaptively reuse the historically significant buildings of the Federal Screw Works complex as opposed to demolition.
