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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The Robert J. Miller Park renaissance may look fresh and finished …
But it’s not. There’s more to come. Much more.
John Miller, nephew of Robert Miller and president of the Aspinock Historical Society, said the society is working on two more informational pieces for the two blank spots on the kiosk. The subjects will be local, of course, and history based. One may be the Flood of 1955 — or something else. A group at the society is working on those, he said.
Already placed back on the kiosk walls is a replica of the Wall of Honor plaque from Putnam High School honoring Robert Miller, a map/guide of the River Trail, and the original plaque for the trail and Robert Miller. Added recently was a new thank you plaque from the town to the many who made the renovation possible.
The plaques and maps were removed in July 2022 when the management team at Centreville Bank painted the kiosk and tackled the overgrown brush and trees. It was a bank community project. John Miller credited Eva-Marie Roberts, the paint studio manager at Chace Building Supply, with spearheading that refurbishment.
Besides the additional plaques, Miller said he hopes to resurrect the garden that was next to the walkway. The occasional tulip still comes up but he’d like to put that section of the park back to its original glory.
Willie Bousquet, the director of the Putnam Parks and Recreation Department, had said that the renovation of the park started with a conversation with John Miller. He had come into some resources, Bousquet said, and wanted to refurbish the park dedicated to his uncle.
Miller said the resources were a $2,000 donation from the Miller and Johnston families in honor of Robert Miller to Aspinock Historical Society for a plaque for one of the benches in the park. The rest of the money, plus funding from John and Darlene Miller and the Economic Development Department, went toward the boxy sign in “Putnam Blue” that encapsulates the electrical posts in the center of the park.
Miller said the Park Department and the town’s Highway Department fixed the lower parking lot on the Providence Street side of the park, repaired the “garage” door of the building under the kiosk and took care of the fencing and gate at that lower lot.
The solar up lights on the flag pole were installed by the Parks Department. Miller said two plaques in the park, one for his uncle and one for Kenneth Gunsalus, noted how important the Boy Scouts were to them. One thing they, as Scoutmasters, taught was respect for the flag. Hence the lights on the flag.
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