Beautifying Salem: Green space construction making progress

SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) – The work to beautify Salem is ongoing but Phase 1 is nearly complete.

At the intersection of State Street and Lincoln Avenue sits the city’s new green space, and it’s coming along.

“It would be the main entranceway to town and it would be like a town square, which we don’t have,” Mayor Cyndi Dickey said. “We wanted it to be something that would be kind of the emblem to Salem for years to come.”

It hasn’t been as quick of a process as Dickey would have liked but there’s a reason for how long it took.

“With COVID coming in, that kind of slowed down all the labor forces doing anything, and getting our plans all drawn up and completed,” she said.

Now there’s a fountain closer to the street. The pavilion stands tall and the grass has grown in.

Dickey says people want to and have already taken advantage of the space.

“I’ve actually had two weddings here already. We have a young man who is going to be giving me a call back any day, who wants to come and just play music here for people to enjoy.”

The work isn’t done yet. To complete Phase 1 — a statue of President Abraham Lincoln.

“We were an abolitionist city, Quakers, peace and Lincoln was the president who abolished slaves,” Dickey said.

Phase 2 includes planting flowers and shrubs. Phase 3 will bring benches to the park and across from the Lincoln statue.

“It will be looking out at a war memorial, a veterans memorial over here. So Lincoln will be watching his troops,” Dickey said.

Salem hopes to have the whole project completed by next year.

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