The historic O'Shea mansion in Peabody. (Shari Small/WBZ NewsRadio)
PEABODY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A temporary children's museum could find a permanent home in a Peabody landmark.
Peabody Mayor Ted Betancourt told WBZ NewsRadio's Shari Small he would like the historic O'Shea mansion on Washington Street, built circa 1895, to house the pop-up children's museum that proved successful this past spring and summer.
"We had over 7,000 people that came, and we only did it a couple of days a week," Betancourt said. "We're seeing the success, we knew that this could be something that could work for us permanently."
Tim Brown with Northeast Ark, one of the several groups that launched and operated the pop up, said they were blown away by the numbers of people who visited.
"I think just the data and the fact that we had 7,500 visitors come in during that short period of time prove that there was a thirst and there was a need for programming for children in this area," Brown said.
The O'Shea mansion was spared from demolition when the city took the property by eminent domain in 2016, paying $1.25 million for it.
"The people it's going to bring to our downtown, that are going to go to our restaurants, that are gonna go to our shops? I think the whole region, the whole area will benefit," Betancourt said.
Brown and Betancourt will pitch the proposal at Thursday's Peabody City Council meeting.
WBZ NewsRadio's Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports
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