Black Haven

over,” he said. After entering through the back door—which always seemed to be open—he would sit and draw for hours, or occupy himself with books about planes and ships.

Just as it did for his children years later, it became his sanctuary. The library was where he learned to play chess and checkers, where he lost himself hundreds of times in the pages of books. The space also marked his first sustained interaction with police, when officer Joe Greene would come in to chat up with then-librarian Stephanie Boskey.

Their flirtation over the circulation desk led to their marriage—and to Abdussabur’s idea of bringing kids and officers together to talk, without an agenda in mind. Years later, when he joined the New Haven Police Department, Stetson was one of his first stops. While he left the department years ago, he still sees Stetson as a hub of social connection.

Thursday, he lingered at a timeline that Crutchfield had installed along one wall. Beneath the 2007-2008 mark, he stopped at a collage of kids in a T.V. studio, searching for his daughter and then-pint-sized sons until he found them. That year, he and Brown had worked with News 8 to get kids into the studio, then brought in a producer from Nickelodeon to give a class at the library.

He has dozens of stories like that, where the library jumped in to help. Along the wall, there were images of kids playing, bent over chess boards, their brows furrowed in concentration. A group of tiny musicians smiled for the camera alongside musician Chris "Big Dog Davis."

In a photo from 2009, Brown spoke at a microphone as late City Librarian James Welbourne looked on, beaming. It was the installation of a mural that still sits outside, emblazoned with the letters R E A D. “The library became a safe space where you could learn, where you could just get a different lens on things,” Abdussabur said.

Crutchfield, who often brings her young daughter to the new Stetson Branch across the street, said she’s honored to be working on the project with the BITE team. Salwa Abdussabur is a regular at BLOOM, and the two have found themselves talking about collaborating for some time.

Because she designs with the philosophy “bloom where you are planted,” Stetson made immediate sense to her, she said Thursday. Its roots are deep in the community. It has flourished on two sides of Dixwell Avenue, thanks in large part to Brown’s tender and constant care. And while one space will physically disappear, another is blossoming in its place.

“What a special place this is,” she said. She walked over to a section of the timeline set for the near future, the year 2025. In it, renderings of ConnCAT Place rose into the sky, surrounded by sun-soaked greenery. It looked like a new day.