Ethnic diversity, urban change, and a whole lot of churches have characterized Bayside since its earliest days. An upcoming walking tour explores Bayside history, particularly in relationship to Anshe Sfard, the long-demolished Chassidic synagogue at Wilmot Street and Cumberland Avenue.
The tour on Sunday, October 19th will show what Bayside looked like before Franklin Arterial and Franklin Towers turned its eastern border into a midcentury example of urban renewal. Who lived here? From worship to work, from living to learning, what was life like in Bayside?
The tour covers the Jewish community in its context—an area once bustling with shops, rooming houses and private homes, churches, factories, and schools. Bayside was a neighborhood of people usually on the way to somewhere else—immigrants lived side-by-side with local folks, and very few lived here for very long. On this slow-paced, mile-long walk, you will see what used to be here, what it’s like now, and what it may be in the future.
The walking tour and a presentation are the concluding events in a research project conducted by the Maine Historical Society, Mt. Carmel Cemetery Association, and the Bayside Neighborhood Association. There will be a small exhibit of Anshe Sfard artifacts at the presentation, and a larger online exhibit will open on the MHS website Maine Memory Network.
Walking tour: Sunday, October 19, 2014, meet at the Armenian memorial across from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Cumberland and Franklin)—1:15 – 2:15 PM, followed by refreshments (indoors at Chestnut Street Lofts, one of Bayside’s newest buildings)—Rain date is Sunday, October 26.
Presentation: Bayside: The Culture and Context Surrounding Anshe Sfard
Thursday, October 23, 2014, at the Maine Historical Society (489 Congress Street), in the Earle G. Shettleworth Lecture Hall—7:00 PM. Slide show and panel will discuss the Jewish and Armenian communities, as well as Bayside’s fate during urban renewal.
Contact: Deborah Van Hoewyk, Bayside Neighborhood Association, dvhoewyk@umich.edu.
