Louise Doyle, Local Philanthropist, Passes away at 95

It’s like the end of a great novel…

Louise Doyle, 95, has passed away. She and her family have done more for the city of Leominster than anybody else and they did it because they wanted to. They didn’t do it for the recognition or the praise, simply for the good feeling they got from helping others.

I remember as a kid attempting to walk down the long driveway to the Doyle mansion on Lindell Ave just to turn and run for fear of the killer dogs, or the armed guards, or the spirits that all us kids were sure  guarded the overwhelming homestead…

What will become of the Doyle mansion and all of the property around it? Did she have a will? Is Dick O’Brien going to move in and make it his home? Maybe a museum???

I’m sure there isn’t a person in Leominster that isn’t curious about the inside of the most famous home in town. I’d love to go inside and sit in the study or the smoking room where Bernie Doyle once sat and pondered his next business venture or maybe sat and had a snifter of brandy with some of the other legends of the local industry.

I don’t even think Louise Doyle had any living relatives unless you consider her countless caretakers and close friends. These are the people that knew her best and will surely miss her most. Most of us just knew the name and the story but not the lady that she surely was…

God bless you Louise.

Have you seen the new Leominster Public Library?

I personally haven’t been to the library since high school which is a long time ago but it is something I plan to do this summer with my girls. I did check out the library’s website which has a blog with photos taken during construction.

Leominster Public Library Construction Blog

The Leominster Public Library website has some pictures of the library dedication.

I can’t wait to see the inside and I’d like to hear what you think of the new library and if it was worth all the money.

Leominster Circus Council does something right for a change

Monday night the Circus Council did something they don’t do very often…the right thing for the city. They voted unanimously to allow The Paper Store to operate a warehouse and distribution center out of a vacant industrial building at 46 Industrial Road.

This property has sat vacant for a number of months and with the exception of some transient short term tenants, it’s been virtually vacant for a few years. The owners of The Paper Store have been negotiating to purchase the property subject to receipt of this special permit. This purchase will be great for the city since the previous owner lost the property to foreclosure. The property can now start generating some real tax dollars.

The next thing that needs to be done in Leominster with respect to the operation of a distribution center is to eliminate the need for a special permit to operate a warehouse and distribution business not associated with a manufacturing business located within the city limits. In other words, if you operate a manufacturing company in Leominster you can also have an off-site warehouse and distribution center. If you don’t manufacture in Leominster, you can’t.

This is an old ordinance that in my opinion should be rewritten. The idea behind the ordinance was to keep big companies from coming into the city and occupying a huge industrial building for warehousing and only having one or two people working in the building. The city wants to bring in companies to create jobs, and contribute to the local economy which I agree with but things have changed since this ordinance was originally written.

The reality is that today’s distribution facilities don’t just have one guy rolling around in a forklift moving boxes. They’re highly sophisticated and take many many people to operate. The distribution centers of today create jobs, fill up vacant properties, and even help to contribute to the local economy .

There are too many large vacant buildings in the area to be so picky that we are not allowing these distribution centers to open up. The Paper Store should not have even had to go for a special permit.

Enough with the hoops and hurdles. This type of thing happens way too often in Leominster and business owners are getting tired of it!