Background and Purpose
Background
The City of New Bedford, a maritime community located on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, has a rich and diverse history. Its location by the sea has largely determined the city's livelihood and character. What made New Bedford distinctive however, was the particular direction it took. It became the center of the country's whaling industry. In fact, New Bedford came to symbolize whaling, and New Bedford and whaling are to this day still synonymous in the popular imagination.
New Bedford has had many periods of growth and decline. After the collapse of the whaling industry late in the nineteenth century, there was a period of prosperity brought on by the development and expansion of the textile industry. That industry too has experienced decline. In the recent past, New Bedford has experienced severe job losses, high unemployment, and widespread economic disinvestment. These economic problems have reverberated throughout the community and its cultural resources.
Like many communities that experienced long periods of decline, New Bedford paradoxically still has a rich array of buildings and settings which retain a high degree of integrity from the community's periods of prosperity. The cultural resources that survive from the era of whaling are particularly noteworthy. These resources, not surprisingly, are clustered in an area on and near the city's waterfront.
By the early 1960s, the city's historic waterfront was decaying and most of its buildings were in disrepair. The entire area was threatened with demolition through a city sponsored and federally funded urban renewal program. In response, the Waterfront Historic Area League of New Bedford, Inc. (WHALE) was organized to preserve the buildings in the waterfront area and the history that this area represents, particularly the city's whaling era.
In 1962 a comprehensive program, led by WHALE in cooperation with the Bedford Landing Taxpayers Association, the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, private property owners, and the City of New Bedford, was initiated to preserve, rehabilitate and reuse architecturally significant buildings in the waterfront area. Since that time, this public/private partnership resulted in some $3.7 million in public investment, $2.7 million in private investment, rehabilitation of 36 buildings and the creation or expansion of over 40 businesses including over 200 new jobs. WHALE also helped establish the New Bedford National Historic Landmark District in 19661 and other preservation mechanisms.
In 1988 as part of a later revitalization initiative, with city participation, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management developed a Heritage State Park master plan. The Heritage State Park program was designed to assist cities with resource protection and economic development by creating parks in historic urban areas. Following an extensive public participation process involving local historic and cultural groups, the plan for New Bedford's waterfront area was developed. This historical maritime park was conceived as a means to protect the city's valuable historic resources and waterfront. Unfortunately, the park plan was not implemented because the State ceased funding the Heritage Park program.
Over twenty years has elapsed since the initial investment by WHALE in the Waterfront Historic District buildings. Some of the most valued rehabilitated buildings are showing the effects of deferred maintenance. Other buildings of special historic significance, bypassed in the earlier program, are in need of substantial rehabilitation.
These needs have emerged at a time when New Bedford is reeling from the combined stresses of a major exodus of manufacturing jobs, a fishing industry that is struggling, the loss of substantial retailing activity in the city center, and an unemployment rate that is among the highest in the Northeast. This economic decline has adversely affected private giving to cultural resource institutions, has caused reduction of local government funding and has reduced advertising of and visitation to cultural and historic resources. Despite the best efforts of a dedicated constituency for the preservation of historic resources, there is a fear that some of these resources could be lost because of the difficult and protracted economic downturn.
To protect New Bedford's historic resources, Senator Edward M. Kennedy took an interest in helping the city explore ways to preserve its past. In 1990, Congress, at the request of Senator Kennedy and with support from Senator John F. Kerry, Congressman Gerry Studds, and Congressman Barney Frank, appropriated funds for a National Park Service Special Resource Study to consider the feasibility of creating a National Park in New Bedford. The study was initiated in the fall of 1991 after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. The NPS's North Atlantic Regional Office entered into a cooperative agreement with WHALE to produce the study. Extensive public participation and support were generated during the study process.
Study Purpose and Process
The purpose of the New Bedford Special Resource Study is to evaluate the New Bedford National Historic Landmark District for possible inclusion in the National Park System. In order for an area to become a National Park unit, it must meet all three criteria of national significance, suitability, and feasibility. In addition, management alternatives must be developed and evaluated. The Management Alternatives section describes the components of a potential park and then compares and contrasts the various alternatives for developing and managing the park. The study looks at historic, cultural, and natural resources as they exist and evaluates appropriate ways for them to be protected and interpreted. This study follows NPS guidelines found in the Management Policies, "Criteria for Parklands2" and "Guidelines for Special Resource Studies3"
The study process involved conducting historical research, reviewing previous plans including the Heritage State Park plan and other local initiatives, and reviewing previous National Register nominations. In addition, site assessments were conducted to inventory and assess the historic and cultural resources of the generalized study area.
A statement of significance was developed by evaluating the cultural and historical resources in a larger national context and by linking the Historic Landmark and National Register components to the assessment of significance of the larger area which is described in detail in the next section. An assessment of suitability was developed by comparing New Bedford's resources to other themes and resources already represented by and interpreted in the National Park System elsewhere in the country. A feasibility assessment was also prepared which identified threats and determined whether the resources were of appropriate size, configuration, accessibility, and ownership to be efficiently developed and administered by the Service.
The study team4 then developed park themes and assessed their interpretive potential. It also formulated management approaches and assessed potential costs of resource protection.
As part of the study process, the team met with many individuals, groups, and organizations to explain the study process and to receive input from these entities. The study process has unified a diverse group of public and private individuals and organizations around the concept of an historical park in New Bedford. As a result, a coalition has formed that informally calls itself "the Partnership5." To define goals for the project and to develop a viable plan, the study team worked closely with local and state organizations represented by the Partnership as well as with historians, preservationists, museum professionals, managers of related sites, land planners, and individuals with related expertise.
