By Tom Dalton
SALEM — Gordon College has made inquiries about leasing a vacant building in Mack Park as an office and residence for students.
Officials from the Christian college in Wenham have toured the former Park Department headquarters, discussed the proposal with city officials, and even attended a December meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission to answer questions from neighbors.
So far, residents don't like the idea of putting a college dorm in the park.
"Our concern is students living there," said Rose Mary O'Connor, chairwoman of the Mack Park Neighborhood Association. "The professor (from the college who attended the park commission meeting) said it's a Christian school. Hey, kids are kids."
The Park, Recreation and Community Services Department, which moved out of Mack Park four years ago, is expected to seek proposals this month for the reuse of the old stone house, which was the park superintendent's home for nearly a century. In more recent years, it was used as the city park office.
Gordon College already has lease agreements with the city to run programs at Old Town Hall and Pioneer Village. In the spring, it plans to launch a new academic program in historic interpretation linked to those two programs and wants to open an office in the city and secure living quarters for five or six students with an adult supervisor.
It has similar off-campus, satellite programs in Lynn and Gloucester.
David Goss, co-director of the Gordon College Institute for Public History, said the interest in Mack Park is "very tentative" and that they appeared before the city board not to make a formal proposal but at the request of Ward 6 Councilor Paul Prevey.
"I can perfectly understand how neighbors wouldn't want a dormitory in a residential area, but this is a very specialized kind of program with a very specialized group of students," Goss said.
The college hopes to recruit about a dozen students, he said, interested in working at museums, historic houses, National Park sites or in interactive history programs like "Cry Innocent," the theatrical production on the Salem Witch Trials that Gordon College runs at Old Town Hall.
The academic program will run from May through November, offer courses right in Salem and provide college credit. College administrators feel it is important for the students to experience Salem by taking courses here and living nearby. These will be serious students, they said, who are interested in the city.
"You always get these sort of 'Animal House' impressions about any college student-occupied building," said Cliff Hersey, dean of global education at Gordon. "I think that's a little unfair. ...
"We kind of pride ourselves in having a little bit — I hate to say a better college student — but perhaps a student a bit more concerned about being involved in the community and in social issues because of our religious heritage. ... We have not had complications with these kind of programs in the past, and I think our students are aware of the need to be good citizens."
Hersey said the college expressed interest only about using a vacant building in the city and would not want to pursue anything that would hurt Gordon's reputation or its relationship with the city.
Doug Bollen, the city's park superintendent, said Gordon College would be a "great fit" because it would occupy the vacant Mack Park house, make needed improvements and offer community programs, one of the requirements of the property's deed.
"There are a lot of resources they could offer the community and the building by providing different types of classes," he said.
O'Connor, who heads the neighborhood group, said she also wants to prevent vandalism and to provide a community resource, but feels a residence for college students is not the answer.
"We're totally against housing for students up there," she said. "We don't think it's a good fit for the neighborhood."
Councilor Prevey said he has similar reservations, and also is concerned about deed restrictions requiring programs at Mack Park to be open to everyone in the community and about a city ordinance that mandates the park close at 9 every night.
If Gordon proposed something that could meet those concerns, without students living there, "I'd be all in favor," Prevey said.
The stone house that is the focus of so much interest was built around 1850 as a summer estate for Dr. William Mack and his sister, Esther, according to city records. After Dr. Mack's death in 1895, the house and 25 acres were bequeathed to the city as a park. The house was used as a residence for the park superintendent from about 1896 until the early 1990s.
This debate about leasing this old house to the college, it turns out, may be moot. Bollen said the city's building inspector, citing the state building code, recently told him that no more than three unrelated people can live there at one time.
