John Gilvey and business partner Michael Benzer had been operating Beacon Glassworks on Maple Street since 1983, making a successful living selling their hand cast sculptural glassworks wholesale and at trade shows across the nation. The business had never considered having a customer base in Beacon until 2001, when Gilvey was tipped off by Benzer's ex-roommate that the world-renowned Dia Art Foundation was moving its exhibit space to town.

"I thought it was impossible. I knew what kind of clout they had," says Gilvey, a School of Visual Arts graduate who had studied sculpture with Sol Lewitt and Richard Serra–both of whom had been involved with Dia in New York City. "When Dia first bought buildings in New York, the entire art scene moved from SoHo to Chelsea,"Gilvey adds. "That's the kind of attraction it holds for artists and galleries."

It quickly occurred to him that the arrival of Dia would put in place an instant clientele for his wares. "If they are coming to Beacon to see Dia, it means they have an artistic sensibility that fits our artistic sensibility," he reasoned.

With the confirmation of the rumor, it didn't take long before Gilvey and Benzer, along with co-owners/spouses Wendy Gilvey and Jennifer Smith, started looking for a building. Although the east end of town had undergone some revitalization in 1994 for the filming of Nobody's Fool starring Paul Newman, the two men decided to look for property on the west side, which proved a difficult task. "Every store in the neighborhood was abandoned; bricked-up to the second floor, or served as a storefront apartment or crack den," Gilvey recalls. "In the entire time I had been coming to Beacon, I had never walked in that neighborhood, and given the choice, would usually choose not to drive in it."

But beneath the fortress of bricks and chipping paint, the unique character and richness of the historic district was still evident. "We started looking at buildings, and this one always stood out," Gilvey says of the former firehouse on Main Street that now serves as the Hudson Beach Glass gallery and glass-blowing studio. "When we bought it, it was a wreck. There wasn't a good window or door in the whole place, nor a piece of good wiring or plumbing."

The four partners purchased the three-story brick edifice at auction from the city of Beacon for $270,000 in 2001, and then put up everything they had to finance its complete renovation. It was during these long days of working on the building, which included frequent beer runs between the firehouse and the bodega on the corner, that Gilvey got to know the tenants on Main Street. His love for the Beacon community quickly blossomed. "People were wonderful. They were really friendly," he says. As construction continued, other businesses started moving in, and the neighborhood began to transform.

And exactly how has Beacon changed since 2001? Today, businesses on both sides of town are thriving, and the opening of the Hudson Beach Glass storefront gallery has proven profitable. Says Gilvey, "From the moment we opened the place, we were immediately doing business."

Furthermore, there is a strong sense of community among long-time residents, as well as those just moving into town. "I would say that about 80 percent of the people that lived in this neighborhood still live in this neighborhood," Gilvey says, "and these folks are happier about this revitalization than anybody. They are still in the neighborhood they were ten years ago, but now they are raising their kids in a really nice place."