As the sun set last Friday, slowly darkening Lower Mills village, the sign atop the Walter Baker Chocolate factory’s administrative building lit up for the first time in nearly 60 years.
Hundreds of people gathered at Adams Street and Dorchester Ave. to get a glimpse of the newly bright neon sign, which had been dismantled and taken down for repairs last November. Now refurbished with LED bulbs and restrung, the icon was welcomed back with a ceremony and a celebration hosted by the Lower Mills Civic Association.
Attendees milled about the area enjoying local food, crafts, and memorabilia relevant to the Walter Baker Chocolate factory that dominated the neighborhood between 1765 and 1965 with its buildings that embraced the flow-through Neponset River and the sweet effect of its product across Dorchester, Mattapan, and Milton depending on shifting winds. The building below the sign, the lobby of which was available for tours on Friday, now houses the Walter Baker Artists’ Lofts apartments.
State Rep. Brandy Fluker Oakley led the countdown during a ceremony to re-light the signage on June 10. David J Stokle photo
The celebration also paid tribute to Terry Dolan, the civic leader who led the charge for the sign’s restoration. After a formal thank you to the sponsors of the event, the Lower Mills Civic Association held a special memoriam for Dolan, who passed away suddenly in April.
The sign’s restoration cost about $66,000 and was funded mostly by a grant from the Community Preservation Act through the City of Boston. The Lower Mills Civic Association, WBL Artist Collective, Inc., and DotArt sponsored the project, and donations from local businesses and community members paved the rest of the way.
The restored sign, wrote Lower Mills Civic Association president D. Michael Skillin in the invitation to the event, “will serve as a visual reference point for the neighborhood, and a reminder of the industrial past of Lower Mills and its thriving present.”
