North Shore Medical Center Returns City Seal Plaque to City of Salem

On Wednesday, November 9, North Shore Medical Center President Robert G. Norton will join Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll for a ceremony in which the hospital will turn over to the City a bronze plaque of the City’s Seal that had been affixed to the exterior of the former Spaulding Hospital building on the NSMC campus.

Spaulding had previously been called Shaughnessy-Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital when it was operated by the City of Salem. It was built in 1975 as a long term care hospital and the plaque dates from that year. For the last four decades it has been on the side of the building, even after NSMC took over operations of the facility in 1990. This year, as NSMC prepared to change the facility’s use as part of its campus consolidation, the hospital removed the plaque and offered to return it to the City.

The solid bronze plaque is three feet in diameter and weighs several hundred pounds. NSMC had the plaque refurbished before returning it to the City. It will be formally returned to the City in a brief ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, November 9, at 9:00 a.m. at Salem City Hall, 93 Washington Street.

“On behalf of the City, I would like to extend our thanks to North Shore Medical Center for the return of the seal and for the great care taken to restore it to its current refurbished condition,” said Mayor Driscoll.

“North Shore Medical Center is extremely proud of its longstanding legacy with the City of Salem, which has joined us in caring for local patients and families for more than 100 years,” said President Norton. “We look forward to continuing this vital partnership for years to come.”

The City Seal was adopted as the insignia of the City in March 1839, three years after Salem was incorporated as a City and 213 years after its founding. The Seal depicts a ship under full sail approaching a coastal land in the East Indies. A native inhabitant in traditional garb stands in the middle, surrounded by plants of the region. A dove sits atop the scene, with an olive branch in its mouth. The City motto, “Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum” – “To the farthest port of the rich East” – is below. The Seal is ringed by the incorporation dates of both the Town of Salem, 1626, and the City of Salem, 1836.

The City Seal plaque will be on display in the reception area of the Mayor’s Office on the second floor of City Hall. The City hopes to potentially install the seal on the exterior of the new City Hall Annex building at 90 Washington Street, across the street from City Hall.