SPS Has Special Display at Salem Public Library

          May is preservation month in Salem.  This year the topic of our display is “The Reilly Project”.  The Salem Preservation Society’s annual display is available for public viewing the whole month of May.  It can be seen in the display cases in the side lobby at Salem Public Library. The display highlights some significant historic events related to the stadium. One photo shows John F. Kennedy speaking at the stadium.  Another picture of Jessie Owens reminds us of his visit to Salem.  Additional pictures, yearbooks, and a variety of artifacts related to Reilly Stadium and Salem Schools are included in the display. The Reilly Project comes to life with renderings of the improvements that are planned for the stadium.

This display has wide appeal. Even residents and friends who did not attend Salem schools may have competed in a sport event, performed in a band night or walked in a Relay for Life at the stadium. Others just have an interest in helping preserve and enhance our community. This display is intended to remind viewers of the historic significance of the stadium, to help them to see the vision of the project, and remind them that the Salem Preservation Society is an active organization in Salem. More articles and information about the Reilly Project and SPS are available at salempreservationsociety.org.

This is a very large community project that is being coordinated by the Salem Board of Education and The Salem Preservation Society.  Everyone can be part of this exciting project. Only donations will be used to fund the Reilly Project.  Monetary donations to this non-profit project and donations of time are appreciated and needed. The SPS is trying to make our web site capable of accepting donations of any size and taking orders for commemorative bricks, benches and other fund raising items on line.  If you want to contact someone personally to support this project you may contact Karen Lehwald Carter, class of 1964. Her home number is 330-332-4959 and her cell is 330-398-8848. We appreciate the positive responses we have had so far.  When the Reilly Project is completed the whole stadium area will be so lovely and even more inviting than it is now.

This year the display at the library was installed by

Jean Alice Fehr and Charlotte Wallace

Submitted by Charlotte Elliott-Wallace