Support to Save Tappan House from Demolition Grows Stronger

With support from more than a dozen concerned citizens from Attleboro and beyond, Marian Wrightington, chairwoman of the Attleboro Historical Commission, convinced the to agree to support a resolution to preserve the Tappan House from being destroyed by its owners, Sturdy Memorial Hospital. 

This is the second time the Council has passed a resolution to save the Tappan House, which is located adjacent to on Park Street.

In 2002, when the hospital had plans to demolish the house, the Attleboro Municipal Council adopted a resolution to help preserve it. A similar resolution was adopted on Tuesday, which states that the council will urge the hospital's board of directors, and Mayor Kevin Dumas to find a solution that preserves the house. The resolution also calls for a "Spirit of Community" task force to work together to remodel its interior. 

 A petition, which was circulated to save the building and garnered 800 signatures in 2002, was presented to the hospital and Sturdy responded by offering to sell the building for $1 to anyone willing to move it.

Fast forward eight years and the same effort to save Tappan is again underway with support to save it coming from as far away as Portugal and Spain.

The citizens of Attleboro need more time, Wrightington told the council. If some action is not taken before December 24, Sturdy will begin to vacate the building and the Tappan will come down sometime in 2011.

Councilman Walter Thibodeau said City Council President Frank Cook and Mayor Dumas recognize the significance of preserving the house and are "working on possible solutions to move Tappan house to a different location."

Cook and Dumas could not participate in any discussion about Tappan, because both officials and City Treasurer Ethel Sanbach sit on the board at Sturdy Memorial. 

One by one existing and former citizens of Attleboro took the podium to share their stories of the green and white historic home. 

Carol Bragg of Seekonk, who grew up in Atteboro, but now lives in Seekonk, said she and her sisters Edith, Alice and Margaret have fond memories of sledding down the hills during the winter and collecting bumble bees in the summer. Bragg told the council that the preservation of Tappan is not only about saving a building "that the hospital now considers an old building" but that the house is "critical to the city's collective memory.

"We ask this to Sturdy: What would happen if everyone would do what you are about to do."