New Bedford Fireplace Station 10 has been empty for way back to I can keep in mind, however the previous brick tower by its facet, which served as a firefighter coaching facility, took on a lifetime of its personal when Station 10 went darkish.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
You see it from the freeway as you whiz via what as soon as was Weld Sq. and the Cedar Grove neighborhood. Fireplace Station 10 opened at 2071 Buy Avenue in 1900. I do not know when the coaching tower simply north of the pink brick two-story firehouse was constructed. Early photographs of the station don’t embrace it.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
Station 10 went darkish within the Nineteen Sixties. A number of years later, the tower, what would grow to be often called Outdated Glory Tower, took on a lifetime of its personal.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
On Labor Day, September 6, 1971, Joseph Theodore, Jr. of South Dartmouth raised an American flag atop the previous fireplace tower to honor veterans. It started as an effort to honor those that served within the Vietnam Warfare however was expanded to incorporate others. Robert J. Barcellos remembered in a 2001 piece for the Normal-Occasions how Theodore turned the primary to fly an illuminated American flag 24/7 in honor of our veterans.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
The marketing campaign, often called “Gentle For Peace,” originated at New Bedford Metropolis Corridor in 1968, and in 1971 below then-Mayor George Rogers was moved to the hearth tower, the place it remained for a few years.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
In 1972, the follow of illuminating and flying the flag via the night time was adopted by the Nixon Administration in Washington. It’s a custom that continues to this present day within the nation’s capital and elsewhere.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
In a 2018 piece for the Normal-Occasions, reporter Steve Urbon wrote that deteriorating circumstances made it too harmful to climb the steps of Outdated Glory Tower.
The ultimate flag-raising was in December 2018. The “Gentle For Peace” marketing campaign ended there, some 47 years and greater than 550 flags after it had begun.
The coaching and commentary tower hooked up to New Bedford’s former Fireplace Station 10 flew illuminated flags to honor American veterans for greater than 47 years.
The next 12 months “Gentle For Peace” was moved to the Fort Taber Army Museum, the place it continues as we speak.
Joseph Theordore, Jr. died in July 2009.
The coaching and commentary tower hooked up to New Bedford’s former Fireplace Station 10 flew illuminated flags to honor American veterans for greater than 47 years.
New Bedford’s Outdated Glory Tower has fairly a historical past
As for Outdated Glory Tower, it and neighboring Station 10 are privately owned by Lee Miguel of New Bedford, who additionally owns the previous Mickiewicz Membership close by.
Station 10 has been impacted by a number of arson fires lately. The Mitchell Administration has expressed an curiosity in seeing the property redeveloped.
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