This Place Matters

Let your community know "What places in Milford Matter to you!"

Suppose someone approached you on the streets of Milford and asked you the simple question, “What places in Milford matter to you?” How would you answer? Would you choose a place that is a regular part of your life, such as a neighborhood home, store, or public building? Maybe you would choose a place where you have shared special moments, like a church, or restaurant, or even a shady tree beside the river. Perhaps it would simply be a unique building that brings a smile of admiration to your face when you pass by.

Your own answer to this question is exactly what Downtown Milford Incorporated (DMI) wants to know. DMI is launching its own version of a national campaign, entitled “This Place Matters”. Started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, “This Place Matters” is a movement which aims to help people across the country to celebrate the places that make their towns special and better places to live.

To be a part of "This Place Matters" simply:

• First, pick up a “This Place Matters” sign from the DMI office across from the library at 7 South Washington Street. Signs also will available at the DMI Information Booth at the Bug & Bud Festival on April 24^th, the monthly Downtown Jazz & Arts Festival, and the Milford Farmer’s Market throughout the spring and summer.

• Next, you place the sign in front of a building or place in Milford that matters to you.

• You then take a photograph and deliver it in person to the DMI office or by email (dmi@downtownmilford.org). We encourage people to pose in their own photos, as people make the pictures more interesting. We also would appreciate a brief statement as to WHY the place matters to you.

DMI members and staff intend to select as many photos as possible for display. The initial display will be in the window of 23 North Walnut Street. The goal is to gather a diverse collection, incorporating as many unique perspectives as possible on the statement, “This Place Matters”. The Chronicle will join the program by printing photographs throughout the year.

Local Physician and DMI board member Mitch Edmondson is leading the effort to make “This Place Matters” a success in Milford. According to Dr. Edmondson, the Milford version of “This Place Matters” has an historical precedent. “When we started planning this project, several members recalled that many historical photographs in the collection of the Milford Historical Society featured a Milford resident who posed in his own pictures. This discussion led us to local historian David Kenton, who was able to confirm the identity of this photographer, Mr. Andrew Komoroski. Mr. Komoroski was a Polish immigrant, whose family arrived in Milford in 1895. He became the most prolific photographer of Milford scenes between 1910 and 1935. Mr. Kenton and the Milford Historical Society provided us with digital versions of many of Mr. Komoroski’s photographs. We are enlarging them and giving them their own prominent display, right beside our contemporary photographs. We hope to inspire our own Andrew Komoroskis of the twenty-first Century!”

So start looking closely at the places that surround you. Perhaps Milford’s new slogan, “Milford – River Town, Art Town, Home Town” can serve as inspiration. What places would leave Milford a less interesting or inviting place if they did not exist? What places make Milford…Milford? Pull out those cameras and show the rest of our community that “This Place Matters”.

For more information, contact the Downtown Milford, Inc. office at 302-839-1180.