At Rededication of Roger Conant Statue, Representative
SALEM - Representative John Keenan offered the following reaction to this afternoon's rededication ceremony of the newly refurbished 1913 statue of Salem's founder Roger Conant. Representative John Keenan's Reaction to the Rededication
of the Roger Conant Statue Thank you, Maryann Curtin and Roberta Clement for your leadership on this project. Thank you to Rika Smith McNally and her staff for their fantastic job restoring and refreshing the Roger Conant statue. And thank you to Annie Harris, Tom Leonard, and the rest of the folks at the Essex National Heritage Commission, and to everyone else who contributed for their support of this worthwhile endeavor. Here we are 92 years to the day practically that this magnificent and momentous statue of our city's founder was first dedicated. A lot has changed in those nine decades, but Roger seemed to weather it all well enough. But it just got to a point where the corrosion and damage was too much, and the Common Neighborhood Association stepped to the plate to save the statue: a $30,000 restoration job to save Roger Conant. And what a remarkable job they did. This project is an example of the incredible things that be accomplished when government, nonprofit, and private groups work together to common ends. Some may dismiss this as just polishing up an old statue. I say it's a restoration of our city's heritage and a demonstration that, working together, great things can be done in the name of historic preservation. Together, Essex Heritage and the Common Neighborhood preserved a very important part of the history and culture of our city. Next year will be the 380th anniversary of Roger Conant's founding of Salem. But these past few years Roger Conant, with the help of many assembled here today, has helped to found the historic preservation movement in our city. I for one look forward to keeping the momentum going at the State level. In a few weeks, the Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development, that I sit on, will be debating a bill that would increase funding for historic preservation projects in Massachusetts' cities and towns. When the naysayers want to know why the Commonwealth should spend money on these projects, I will point them to Salem and to Salem Common. I will tell them to look for Roger Conant. And they will
know why. It's about pride. It's about the future. And it's about history.
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