Demolition Underway as Washington College Transforms Former Dixon Valve Property

Washington College has begun demolition work on the old Dixon Valve property, located at 800 High Street in Chestertown. In December of last year, the College updated the town with plans to demolish four buildings on the 10-acre site. Following the four-step process outlined below, the buildings which are scheduled for demolition will make way for open space while the College explores a new campus master plan and charts the future use of the property.

The current site improvement schedule will be conducted as follows:

Asbestos demolition – March 18 through April 5

Building demolition – April 15 through June 15

Slab demolition – June 16 through August 31

Site grading and seeding of the area – Sept 1 through October 15

Washington College continues to invite the public to peruse the recorded interviews and nearly 100 digitized archival photos accessible in the Washington College Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience‘s Chesapeake Heartland Digital Archive. Utilizing its considerable resources and expertise, the College continues to conduct significant heritage, oral history, and archival work to better tell the site’s history as well as preserve some artifacts for potential future installation.

For the immediate future, the cell tower, the warehouse being considered for a maker space, and the building which housed the old YMCA will remain on the site.

More information about the site, future uses, and accessibility will be shared with the public as plans take shape.