Kent County Community Invited to Groundbreaking at Washington College’s New Innovation Plant
New Facilities Coming to the High Street Location Will Offer Regional Workforce Development, Entrepreneurship, and Civic Innovation Opportunities.
An exterior rendering of the future Innovation Plant at 800 High Street, designed by Becker Morgan Group in coordination with hundreds of local stakeholders.
Washington College cordially invites the Chestertown and larger Upper Shore community to join students, faculty, and local leaders for the groundbreaking of the new Innovation Plant located at the former site of the Dixon Valve & Coupling Company. Attendees will be the first to get an inside look at this future community kitchen, entrepreneurship center, and makerspace designed to bring campus and community together to address civic challenges and build innovative solutions.
The event will take place on Saturday, May 16 at 800 High Street in Chestertown. A gathering scheduled for 10:30 a.m. will welcome guests with the groundbreaking ceremony commencing at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested. Register online at https://advancement.washcoll.edu/register/?id=16fdbba2-6ae7-4ac2-9c51-c0bcf9c4dbb3.
This public celebration, themed “We Built This Place,” kicks off at the historic Dixon Valve property and will honor a century of making, mentorship, and leadership on site, while launching a new era of 21st-century collaboration. The day is designed as a festive community celebration where the public is encouraged to play an active role in the building's transformation. Attendees can “Make Their Mark” on the facility by participating in an interior mural activity or take group photos with the ceremonial groundbreaking shovel.
The event will feature a vibrant soundtrack provided by regional musicians Karen Somerville, Marlon Saunders, Fredy Granillo, Vaughn Bratcher, and Generations Band Together. Speakers from local businesses, elected offices, the College, and the state will share their vision for the site, and special tributes will be paid to the former leaders and workers of Vita Foods and Dixon Valve who built the foundation of 800 High Street.
Beyond the ceremonies, the event offers hands-on experiences and local flavor for
all guests. Lunch and lite bites from local food entrepreneurs will be provided to
all attendees, and tours will be available of the Mobile Innovation Lab, a construction
classroom developed in partnership with Chesapeake College. For those attending other
local festivities, complimentary transportation will be provided to and from the WellFest at Wilmer event happening that same day. 
Mural artist Shelton Hawkins and Washington College student Evan Paddock (‘27) put the final touches on the “Labor of Love” mural currently on display at 800 High Street. Photo by Caroline J. Phillips.
Washington College's vision for the Innovation Plant is for the facility to serve the entire Upper Eastern Shore by providing workforce development, entrepreneurship, and civic leadership opportunities for both youth and adults. This former 16,000-square-foot warehouse will serve as a space where students and the public alike can develop new ideas and launch small businesses. Through a commercial kitchen, entrepreneurship center, makerspace, and outdoor garden, the Innovation Plant will catalyze educational and economic opportunity, empowering the region through access to tools, technology, expertise, and shared spaces.
"With the Innovation Plant, Washington College is igniting a true entrepreneurial spirit that extends far beyond the classroom. By transforming this historic property into a vibrant hub of creativity, we are opening doors for our students to launch ventures and gain the hands-on experience necessary to lead in the modern economy," said Interim President Bryan Matthews. "This initiative is an economic magnet for the Eastern Shore; even before breaking ground, it has sparked a myriad of innovations that prove our priority remains expanding high-impact opportunities for both our campus and the Kent County community for decades to come."
With resounding endorsements from several local non-profit partners as well as the Town of Chestertown, Kent County Commissioners, and several state representatives, the effort to bring about the Plant has received support across the community. Designs for the Plant are by Becker Morgan Group and were done in consultation with KRM Development and Neighborhood Design Center. The project is the culmination of three years of exhaustive stakeholder engagement, including a project-based course that involved over 800 community members in identifying how this property could best address local needs.
“The Innovation Plant reflects the kind of thoughtful, forward‑looking work happening at Washington College, and the Town of Chestertown is proud to be a partner in that momentum,” said Mayor Meghan Efland. “By connecting the campus more closely with our community, we're creating shared opportunities, places where residents of all backgrounds can learn, contribute, and build something meaningful together. This partnership recognizes the talent and experience already here in Chestertown and in Kent County and brings it together with the College's resources to strengthen our workforce, support new ventures, and tackle the real challenges facing our region.”
While much of the old Dixon Valve property was demolished, the remaining warehouse has been in use for the past few years, serving various civic engagement and maker-space needs for Washington College. The “Labor of Love” mural that currently dons the exterior walls was created with the help of more than 40 paid local high school interns, while over 100 more K-12 students and young adults have engaged in mural painting on the interior of the building. Further collaboration around the site has continued with ShoreRivers assisting local students to plant native trees on site, and Kent Attainable Housing using the site to stage modular housing before assembly in nearby neighborhoods. The Local Management Board, Kent County High School, Uptown Community Advisory Council, Innovation Plant Strategic Advisory Board, and state Department of Service and Civic Innovation have all used the site to take tours, assess community needs, engage in design charettes, and host workshops. Washington College students and faculty have contributed to the building in multitudes of ways, whether through archival research for the Chesapeake Heartland Project, oral history interviews, stakeholder engagement, public art, exhibit curation, mentorship opportunities, food security outreach, entrepreneurship competitions, and curricular fellowships.
This community-driven transformation is supported by a wide array of partners, including the Philip E. & Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Maryland Department of Commerce, the Kent County Local Management Board, TEDCO, Dixon Valve & Coupling Company, and KRM Development, alongside private donors.
More information the facility, its future programming, and more is available at https://www.washcoll.edu/engagement/innovation-plant/index.php.
###
About Washington College
Washington College, Maryland's premier liberal arts college, enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduates from more than 39 states and territories and 23 nations. Washington is known for outstanding academics in more than 50 academic programs. With an emphasis on experiential learning opportunities across the disciplines, ranging from internships and research to international study and civic engagement, Washington prepares students for successful careers and lives after graduation. The College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing as well as the 5,000-acre River and Field Campus, which provides unique research opportunities for students and faculty. Additionally, the recently launched Warehime School of Business at Washington College is redefining business education by blending strategy and economics with a global liberal arts perspective. Launching this fall, Warehime empowers bold thinkers to lead across industries through a curriculum rooted in purpose, world languages, and hands-on experience. Learn more at www.washcoll.edu.