A skyview of Brooklyn Square in the 1970s during the transformation of the business district during the Urban Renewal program. During the decade of the 1970s, more than 100 buildings were demolished with the hope of generating new commercial and industrial development in Brooklyn Square. P-J file photo

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on Jamestown’s Urban Renewal program of the late 1960s and the ’70s.

There were several objectives for the Urban Renewal project for Brooklyn Square during the late 1960s and the 1970s.

The two main objectives were to create more jobs and to remove blight. The project failed to create hundreds of new jobs, but succeeded in removing blight. Stan Lundine, former Jamestown mayor from 1970-76, said the creating more jobs objective hit a major snafu when one of the Brooklyn Square manufacturers changed its mind about redevelopment.

“Well initially, Watson Manufacturing indicated they wanted to build a new industrial plant in the area. The feeling was that we needed industrial jobs and it was hard to get companies to locate in the city,” he said. “By the time the project got underway, Watson suffered financial difficulties and couldn’t go through with it. The main purpose was altered into more of a commercial than an industrial one.”

According to articles in The Post-Journal from the late 1960s, the federal government approved the Urban Renewal program for Brooklyn Square in August 1967. The program was a product of the former federal Urban Renewal program enacted by Congress during the Housing Act of 1949. The federal government granted around $4 million for the program while the state granted $650,000. Jamestown provided more than $200,000 in cash and $350,000 in in-kind contributions. The $5.2 million Brooklyn Square project covered approximately 39 acres.

According to a thesis paper prepared by Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, in 1984 while he was earning his Master of Arts degree in public affairs/administration at the State University of New York at Albany, there were 144 buildings in Brooklyn Square, of which 137 were demolished during the Urban Renewal project. There were 101 non-residential establishments, with 72 commercial businesses, 14 industries and 15 public or semi-public organizations like churches or nursing homes. Also, there were 88 families and 27 individuals that were relocated during the project.

Lundine said city officials, at the time, felt there was a real need to clear out some of the old unused commercial buildings.

“There were huge buildings on the south end of Brooklyn Square that were vacant for years. There was the old (Jamestown Public Market) and it had gone out of operation. The goal was to clear out unused and obsolete commercial space,” he said. “Obviously, there was an Italian neighborhood there, mainly on Derby Street, and the people had to be relocated.”

Lundine said the transformation of Brooklyn Square during the 1970s was bittersweet. On the one hand there was the removal of blight, of which was mostly paid for by the federal government. On the other hand, the transformation led to families having to leave their homes to live in new areas of the city. Also, it led to businesses being moved to new parts of the city.

“There were some aspects that were sad and some aspects that were real improvements,” he said. “There was a terrific old hardware store, Lundquist Hardware, right on Main Street. It was a wonderful place. They had any kind of pipe or fitting you needed. It was sad. They took the opportunity to close the business. They were acquired and got paid for the value of the business. That was kind of sad.”

Lundine said property owners got paid for the value of their building and also received relocation expenses. He said at first, the residential area was very negative about the proposed Urban Renewal project until a public hearing was held.

“It was held in the old City Hall in the council chambers. It was a blight hearing. You had to prove this area was blighted and needed to be redeveloped,” he said. “We had a consultant that did a presentation at the blight hearing. The people who came to the hearing objected to (Urban Renewal). After the presentation, they were giving (the consultant) a standing ovation. He did a fantastic job. There was also a young woman lawyer who helped people with the relocation effort. They both did a fantastic job.”