The Traveling Wheelchair

65 Central Square
Bridgewater, MA 02324
Phone: 508-697-0921
http://www.bridgewaterma.org/

As my friends and I were traveling in Bridgewater today, we noticed that the Bridgewater Town Hall has steps leading to the front entrance. We were curious to see if Bridgewater Town Hall is wheelchair accessible so we parked our van in the handicap parking space that is conveniently located on the street in front of Town Hall.

As we looked around we saw a wheelchair accessible sign directing us to a side entry. A cement wheelchair accessible ramp, with railings on both sides, leads to the side entry door; this side entry door is heavy and hard to open for it is not automatic; there is no bell to ring for assistance; a person in a wheelchair, who was alone, would need to wait until someone came along to help them open this door. My friends had a difficult time pushing my manual wheelchair over a slight lip at the threshold of this door.

Once inside, we were confused as to which way to go. In front of me were stairs; bearing slightly to the right looked like a Janitor’s closet; to the left was a door. My friends opened the door to the left and a lady came to our assistance; she asked us where we were going so that she could direct us in the right direction. We told her that we wanted to see the office of the Town Clerk.

She told us that we could go through her office, yet we saw it had a 3 inch lip/step. She then told us that we would need to go straight through the Janitors closet; the door leading into the Janotor’s closet was being held open with a big bucket of salt; my friend, Tony removed the bucket of salt so that Ric and I could get by.

Once we reached the office of the Town Clerk, we met this nice man; we told him that we were here to see how wheelchair accessible the Town Hall is especially since it is located in a beautiful, historic building. This nice man told us that some of the offices of Town Hall are located in other buildings around the Square. The other buildings are the  Memorial Building – Bridgewater Selectmen Office and Academy Building – Bridgewater Board of Health, Inspectional Services and Water Department

The height of the customer service counter at the Town Clerks office is of an “ok” height; I could reach it but if it was any higher it would have been unreachable from my chair. There is also a second level where the Clerk of Appeals is located, yet this office is NOT wheelchair accessible.

This man also told me about a hanging that had happened in this building in the 1800’s but he could not give me all the details. He said some believe this Town Hall is HAUNTED! Wow another haunted Town Hall just like the  Middleboro Town Hall  :>)

Exiting the building was easier; I went through an office that leads to the outside door. Leaving this office, there is a two inch step/lip that my chair was able to roll off of. Entering, this way,through this office would have been more difficult due to the height of this lip.

I give Bridgewater Town Hall TWO STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Three Stars, they would need to install an automatic entry door at the side entrance at the top of the ramp; make this side entrance fully wheelchair accessible, without the need to go through the Janitor’s closet; OR make the front entrance wheelchair accessible; and install an elevator to the second level or relocate the office of the Clerk of Appeals.