To the Editor:

Kudos and many thanks to Grace Mayer and the Dorchester Reporter for bringing further awareness of the historical importance of the aged letters of the Walter Baker neon sign. The Lower Mills area, which straddles the Neponset River and bridges Dorchester and Milton, is rich in history, from the Indigenous people through the Industrial Revolution, that continues evolving to this day.

No matter what the fate of the old neon sign letters is, I hope that they can be kept together and made visible to the public, just as they once were, instead of secluded and in view to only a few.  

This statement gave me pause: “Time will tell what happens with that approach and interest from others with ideas, but Dolan says that in the end, if the letters aren’t all scooped up, she will reach out to the Dorchester Arts Collaborative and the Dorchester Art Project to see if they might be willing to take the letters and consider using them creatively with Dorchester-based artists.”

It is my understanding that the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) owns the Walter Baker Artists’ Lofts building (1231 Dorchester Ave.), making the building and its signage a property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Therefore, no one should be “scooping up” the old letters.

Rather, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), now under the leadership of Michael J. Bobbitt, might consider issuing a Request for Proposal to local artists for a project grant under its Cultural Investment Portfolio.  This would pave the way for the Dorchester Arts Collaborative and the Dorchester Art Project to seek funding for neighborhood artists in repurposing the old sign letters and to become agents of MCC’s core principles. 

– David J. Stokle
Dorchester