GREENFIELD – The Franklin County YMCA signed a contract with Western Mass Demolition Corporation this week to tear down a 182-year-old church, prompting the Historical Commission to consider a delay on the project, according to city officials. 

An anonymous donor helped the YMCA acquire the Zion Korean Church at 463 Main St. last spring, which tasks the organization with either demolishing the structure to make room for program space, or renovating the building to bring it up to code. However, the church’s ties to the abolitionist movement brought the potential demolition to the Historical Commission’s attention.

As of this Wednesday, YMCA Chief Executive Officer Grady Vigneau had not informed the commission if the YMCA planned to demolish or renovate the structure to make room for a child care center. At a Wednesday night Historical Commission meeting, Mayor Virginia Desorgher’s Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt informed the commission that the YMCA had signed a demolition contract the day prior, sparking discussions on how the commission could delay it.

Addressing the commissioners, Anhalt outlined a number of methods to preserve the church’s historical status, such as displaying a plaque or artistic rendering of the structure at its former location. Desorgher added that the YMCA offered to retain “up to four” of the church’s foundational cornerstones and preserve its front steps to create a memorial for the church.

“We can find ways to collaborate with local artists, to photograph, take videos, all the ways that our artist community can preserve the building’s memory,” Anhalt said. “This is a hard decision, and there’s a lot of thought going into it. I know [Historical Commission members] are being very thoughtful and deliberate in this process, and I do appreciate that.”

Commissioners were not receptive to the idea of preserving the church’s memory, and instead, discussed the process of invoking a six-month demolition delay. When the YMCA applies for a demolition permit, Desorgher explained, the commission will have 45 days to hold a public hearing before it votes on whether to implement a delay.

“Mitigation is not the same as preservation. A plaque or an exhibit is not a building [you can see] when you walk down the street. For a building that is the oldest church in the community, that’s been in place for over 100 years, it’s a kind gesture, but its not comparable to preservation,” Commissioner Jeremy Ebersole said.

According to records from the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System — a database featuring information on historic properties — the Zion Korean Church was built as the Coldbrook Springs Baptist Church in Barre in the 1840s.

The church, which records indicate was, until recently, Greenfield’s oldest church still in use, had to be either demolished or moved to make room for the Quabbin Reservoir’s construction. The Greenfield Christian Scientist congregation purchased the Greek revival-style church and moved it to Greenfield in 1936. It had served as a prominent location on the abolitionist lecture circuit there. When the building was featured in a 2021 walking tour highlighting Greenfield’s ties to the Underground Railroad and abolitionist movement, Greenfield High School history teacher Luke Martin explained that speakers such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass had spoken at the church when it was in Barre.

Vigneau, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, previously said that upon touring the church with architects, the structure’s foundation was “crumbling.” At Thursday evening’s meeting, Anhalt also noted that the church had lead paint, asbestos and a slate roof that was in a state of “disrepair.” In response, commissioners argued that the church only needed minor remediations and did not warrant a full demolition.

“We’re the Historical Commission and that church, is pretty dang historical on a number of different aspects — not only the fact that it’s really the only remaining colonial town, and that it has an important role in the anti-slavery movement, and that it’s right on Main Street, but it really makes Greenfield look like New England,” Passiglia said. “I can’t emphasize enough how much I support the Y, but it’s a tough one. It’s kind of impossible for us to say ‘yeah go ahead and knock it down.’ We need a public hearing to get people’s input.”

The Historical Comission will further discuss the church and a potential demolition delay at its next meeting, slated for October.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.