A New Haven landmark is now gone. The Elks Club was home to many people in the Dixwell neighborhood for generations, but it was marked for demolition as part of a redevelopment project.
“This plaza has served its purpose,” said Diane Brown, standing in the parking lot of the Elks Club, pointing to Dixwell Plaza. “It’s been outdated for many, many years. And it’s time. I know it’s difficult."
As the Stetson Library branch manager, she’s quite familiar with the plaza. The library used to be housed in the center of the strip, and now it’s located across the street in a section of the Dixwell Community Q House.
It was moved as plans developed to tear down Dixwell Plaza for a redevelopment project by ConnCORP. And, after 55 years of serving the greater Dixwell neighborhood, East Rock Lodge #141 – known as the Elks Club – came down Thursday. It was the first on the block to go.
“We would hold political events here. We always fed families with Thanksgiving meals and kids with Christmas program toys. We had a mentoring program with the schools that was adopted here,” said Gary Hogan the Exalted Ruler of East Rock Lodge #141.
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He rattled of memory after memory, including a Christmas toy giveaway in the early 2000s.
“To see Santa on the back of a motorcycle was phenomenal for the kids," Hogan said.
Brown shared that the members of the Lodge go above and beyond for the community, and it often goes unnoticed.
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“I know several families off the top of my head right now that came here and said ‘My father passed. I have no money.’ And I’ve seen these brothers and sisters cook food, provide the space for free and be here to support families," Brown said.
Hogan said the place that felt like home for generations of families was sold to ConnCORP to make way for a new Dixwell Plaza.
“We understand that the greater purpose serves a greater need for the Dixwell community,” Hogan said.
Over the next few months, the entire stretch of the old Dixwell Plaza will come down.
“But the entire process is going to take about four to five months when it comes to filling, cleaning, and getting everything out,” said Ian Williams, vice president of real estate development for ConnCORP.
And in its place will be a reimagined Dixwell Plaza with housing, businesses, restaurants and a grocery store.
“It’s somewhere that we can leave home and say 'hey, let’s go down to the plaza, take in a show, have dinner, get some ice cream, and have a great afternoon, great evening,'” Williams said.
People came by to watch and share memories as the hub of the Dixwell community was reduced to rubble.
“At some point I decided that my grandfather had spent many, many years there, and none of the family had actually joined the lodge. And so, I joined, and I worked,” said Beverly Barnes, who would schedule the many community events there, sometimes they overlapped.
And now the effort goes toward creating a home for the next generations in the Dixwell neighborhood.
“This is going to be incredible. It’s going to be something that the community has needed for a long time,” Brown said.
