Ideas sought on memorial display for Notre Dame bell

WORCESTER - It has been almost a year since the former Notre Dame des Canadiens Church was unceremoniously erased from the downtown landscape.

The historic downtown landmark, which was built in 1929, had been vacant since 2007 when it was closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester. It was razed last year after the building had fallen into considerable disrepair.

Now, the citizens group that fought to spare the church from the wrecking ball has been asked to lead a community discussion about what to do with the bell that used to hang in the Notre Dame bell tower.

The historic bell was donated to the city of Worcester by The Hanover Insurance Group, the principal investor in CitySquare and owner of church property, so it can be preserved in a memorial.

Dale Wickenheiser of the Save Notre Dame Alliance said City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. has asked the group to lead the community discussion about what to do with the bell.

He said the SNDA, in conjunction with the city, will be hosting a charette Friday evening at the Worcester Pop-Up, 20 Franklin St. It will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and is open to the public.

"We will turn the Worcester Pop-Up into a creative space where anyone can contribute their ideas and images," Mr. Wickenheiser said. "There are several potential sites for the memorial and the city would like us to generate ideas for what they might look like and memorialize. Participants will be able to provide ideas and drawings for each."

The ideas and material generated at Friday night's charette will stay up on the walls at the Pop-Up through Sept. 10.

Mr. Wickenheiser said the public will be able to come down the Worcester Pop-Up and Sept. 7 and Sept. 10 - it is closed on Sept. 8-9 - to see what was submitted and add additional items.

After Sept. 10, all submitted ideas will be collected and a report will be generated to give to the city, he said.

The 3,500-pound bell, cast in 1881, originally was installed in the belfry of the first Notre Dame Church on what is now Franklin Street.

The bell survived the 1908 fire that destroyed the first Notre Dame Church and hung for almost 90 years in the steeple of the former Notre Dame at Salem Square.

The Hanover has offered to donate as a potential memorial site a portion of land located above the new underground Worcester Common Garage off Front Street.

When the church was razed, there had been plans to put an 80-unit apartment development there, to go along with the apartments that have been built on Front Street. But those plans were subsequently dropped and there are currently no plans before the city for the use of the former church property.

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