NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Sean Dunphy Street. Mayor Sean Dunphy Road. They just don’t have the same ring to them as Mayor Sean Dunphy Way, the new name of the small street leading to City Hall.
“The Mayor Sean Dunphy Way is sort of a double entendre,” said Marcia Burick, who worked on all three of his campaigns. She cited the professionalism and transparency with which Dunphy ran city government, starting shortly after he was elected in 1969 as the youngest mayor in Northampton’s history, at the age of 28.
On Thursday, the Northampton City Council passed an ordinance on second reading that renamed the vehicular entrance leading to city hall’s parking lot after the young attorney-turned-politician.
“It’s very appropriate,” City Council President Ryan O’Donnell said of the honor. “Every story I’ve heard about him depicts him as a great mayor.”
Dunphy was also Northampton’s first full-time mayor.
“He had to make it full time because that’s the way he worked,” said Burick.
Burick noted that Dunphy was influenced by the work of Jane Jacobs, who wrote “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” and that under his watch, the city changed zoning to allow people to rent apartments above downtown businesses. He also created Northampton’s first capital improvement committee, introduced the first municipal recycling center, and oversaw the revitalization of Pulaski Park and the Academy of Music.
“He started the whole renaissance of Northampton,” she said.
Burick added that Dunphy appointed more women to committees, and noted his use of citizen committees, as well as how he would search the Federal Register for grants and matching funds.
“Sean started going through that and finding opportunities,” she said.
Burick got involved with Dunphy’s campaign one year after moving to Northampton from New York City. She became connected to Dunphy after hearing a speech by former state Rep. Ed McColgan. At the time, she approached McColgan, whom she later married, and asked how she could help; McColgan introduced her to Dunphy.
“Sean worked on my campaign,” said McColgan, who added that a number of people who joined his campaign ended up working on Dunphy’s.
McColgan was elected in 1968, and Dunphy served as his campaign manager.
“We won the election, and then we turned around and elected him,” McColgan said.
Dunphy was elected three times, before being appointed to the state’s Appellate Tax Board in 1975. He was then appointed as justice of Hampshire Probate and Family Court in 1978, beginning a judicial career that would culminate in him serving as the chief justice of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court system.
Dunphy died in 2015 at the age of 74. Since then, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz said that he’s been in contact with Dunphy’s family on how best to honor him.
The area around City Hall has undergone significant renovation this year, and Burick said that it was Narkewicz who came up with the idea of calling the entranceway Mayor Sean Dunphy Way. Narkewicz was also the person who submitted the renaming order to the city council.
“Mayor Dunphy played an immeasurable role in modernizing and professionalizing Northampton city government,” reads part of the order, “including the creation of its first planning department, adoption of its first comprehensive zoning ordinance, establishment of its first modern conservation commission, creation of its first municipal recycling center, creation of its first industrial park, a significant expansion of city recreation programs, and major investments in infrastructure.”
Narkewicz said that previously the entrance had no name, and that the double meaning was intentional.
“I liked the poetry,” he said.
The owl statue in downtown Northampton, the Eva Trager Memorial, also had Dunphy’s name added to it in 2017, in recognition of his contributions to downtown Northampton.
The formal unveiling of the sign for Mayor Sean Dunphy Way will be held Sept. 29 at 10:30 a.m., and Narkewicz said that Dunphy’s widow, Ann, two daughters, and grandchildren will be in attendance.
“I’m bringing the apple cider and donuts,” said Burick.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.