Augusta park, minus controversial statue, proposed for former YMCA site

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • February 14, 2025

A new proposal from a landowner could turn the prominent former YMCA site at the intersection of State and Winthrop streets into a park. The proposal takes the place of a previous plan of the site’s owner to develop the same spot as a museum housing a statue of the owner’s relative, a former U.S. chief justice from Augusta who presided over a ruling that maintained racial segregation. The new plans, from philanthropist and seasonal resident Robert Fuller, do not involve the statue of Melville Fuller. Instead it would feature flower gardens, landscaping, a playground, picnic tables, benches, a parking lot and walking paths on a site across the street from the Capital Judicial Center and Lithgow Public Library, in a part of the city where parks aren’t currently allowed.