AMESBURY — Former Mayor Nicholas Costello spent years giving back to the city and state. Now, months after his passing, the city has installed a photo exhibit in his honor.
Costello, the city’s first mayor, had long history of civil service, serving as a state representative, state senator and more.
In March, Costello passed away at the age of 89, and now the city is offering an exhibit as a tribute to Costello’s life and service.
The exhibit at City Hall was organized by Mayor Kassandra Gove’s office with the help of the Amesbury Cultural Council and Amesbury Public Library.
William Donahoue, the city’s communications director, said the exhibit exemplifies Costello’s lifetime of service.
“The Nicholas Costello photo exhibit is a tribute to him as a selectman, state representative, senator, mayor and friend to so many. His impact is woven into the fabric of the community he served as co-founder of the Maudsley Arts Center, sponsor of the legislation for preserving what is now Maudsley State Park, as advocate for preventative health care for women in Massachusetts, and his time here as Amesbury’s first mayor,” he said.
Meghan Fahey, head of archives at Amesbury Public Library, said she and others have been sorting through Costello’s personal items, providing organizers with a wealth of options to choose from.
“We actually recently acquired Mayor Costello’s personal papers. So, before he passed away, we started working with him and his wife, Cynthia, to sort of evaluate what they had and start to organize that so that we could accept it here into the archives. So, we knew we had quite a bit of material to work with this for this project,” Fahey said.
After sorting through hundreds of items, Fahey said they narrowed it down to about 25 images to be displayed at City Hall.
Fahey said it was fulfilling to help commemorate Costello’s career.
“I think the treasure of it, for me, is showing the community the tenure of Nick. He has had such an influence on so many projects, not just in Amesbury, but in the surrounding community, things that I think people had no idea that he either had a hand in or was sort of crucial to seeing through,” she said.
The Amesbury Cultural Council participated by printing the images and hanging the exhibit.
Ann Johnson, co-chair of the Cultural Council, felt similarly and said she enjoyed learning more about the career of an important Amesbury figure.
“It was nice to learn. I think he had a big impact on the city. I didn’t know too much about him, but it was interesting to see how involved that he was in the city,” she said.
The exhibit is open to the public and will be hanging in City Hall through Sept. 5.