Citizens' Hall
Encyclopedia
Citizens' Hall is the government office building and a community meeting place for the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire
. Built in 1889 in the Eastlake
/Stick Style, but one that is also heavily influenced by the Greek Revival, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
for its importance as a community/social center for the town. It is located on Citizens' Hall Road in the village of South Lyndeborough.
's armory and its annual February 22 Levee
and Ball
. Started in 1877, the Levee and Ball had become the town's most anticipated event, bringing hundreds of guests into the community. By 1888 the event had grown too large to be hosted by South Lyndeborough's three major events facilities, the Baptist Church, Tarbell's Hall (above Tarbell's Store), and Artillery Hall (above the depot). Therefore, the Lafayette Artillery raised $275 and purchased part of an apple
orchard
occupying a high point in the village along the road to Temple
(now Citizens' Hall Road) with the intention of constructing a new headquarters and social facility.
Yet the Artillery could not raise the funds to construct a headquarters. Therefore, the group petitioned the town to build the structure for it. At a town meeting
in March, 1888, after much discussion, the town voted in favor of spending $2,000 on the new building, but only if the structure would serve the community as a whole. The Artillery agreed to rent space in the building for its office and armory
, and the town also voted to set aside space for a town library
. (For some unknown reason, the library never was housed in Citizens' Hall despite the vote.)
Over the course of the next several months, construction of what would become Citizens' Hall was delayed as a group of townspeople petitioned the Hillsborough County
Superior Court
to overturn the town's March vote. When their petition was denied, the group was able to call a special town meeting to reconsider the issue. In September, after another lengthy discussion, the town voted to table the articles before them, and within days a granite foundation had been set in place.
veterans and local politicians Jason Holt, B.G. Herrick, and Fred Richardson, as well as Lafayette Artillery members Andy Holt and Charles Henry Holt—designed a simple structure resembling the nearby Baptist Church. Like the church, the main body was designed in the Classical Revival style, with its pediment facing the road. The facade, however, was designed in the then-current Eastlakes/Stick style, a popular Victorian architectural style which originated in upstate New York. The facade includes a cross-gabled hip roof, and the front porch a decorative truss and diagonal support braces typical of this style.
After the town approved the project in September, 1888, work proceeded rapidly on the structure. Artillery member D. C. Grant, through his company D. C. Grant and Sons, headed the construction effort, and the town purchased building materials from Whiting and Sons and other companies in nearby Wilton, New Hampshire
. As a result, portions of the structure are vaguely similar to features on a storefront (now used as a restaurant) and an adjacent house on Wilton's Main Street.
People entering the building through the main (north) entrance were met with a floor plan that featured two staircases on either side of the entrance, both of which led to the second-floor grand hall. The first-floor lobby included a ticket window on the east wall, behind which was the Artillery's meeting room; as well as another small pass-through opening to the "clothes room" (or "cloak room") behind the west wall. The pine trim was painted an off-white color, in contrast to the medium-grey plaster walls, and the wainscotting and plank floor were stained brown.
Beyond the front hallway was the banquet hall, the walls of which were lined in horizontal painted wooden boards. In the southwest corner was the armory, where the Artillery kept its munitions and uniforms, while in the southeast corner was the kitchen (although this room remained unfinished until 1890). A passageway between the two rooms led to the connected outhouse, or "backhouse."
In the kitchen was another staircase, this one leading to the stage area in the second floor hall. North of the stage was the ballroom, with its 14-foot ceiling and large windows. Patrons accessed the second floor of the backhouse as well as the attic stairs from the backstage area.
On January 5, 1889, the Artillery held its first meeting in the not-yet-completed building. Ten days later, former Artillery captain Joel Tarbell and his wife, Esther, held the first public event in the hall's history: their golden wedding anniversary. Sixteen days later, the Artillery and the town formally dedicated the building. Although "Union Hall" had been mentioned as a possible name for the structure, "Citizens' Hall" appears to have been chosen to emphasize that the building belonged to the community, not only to the Civil War veterans and Artillery members who asked that it be built. The first February 22 Levee and Ball to be hosted in the building was held on February 22, 1889.
Levee
and Ball
, until after World War II
. On the occasion of the annual ball, Artillery members would erect a 50-foot flagpole atop Citizens' Hall, from which they would fly the company flag.
The Town of Lyndeborough appropriated money to complete the interior of the building in the early 1890s, and in 1910 purchased a pressed-tin ceiling for the ballroom. In the 1920s, when South Lyndeborough received electricity, the Artillery paid to have the building wired, and purchased new electric light fixtures to replace the old gas lamps. The original gas lamp above the front entrance to the building was wired and re-used as an electric light. The 1920s electric lights, as well as the lamp above the front doors, are still in use as of December 2009, and are considered essential elements of the building's historic value.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Artillery shared Citizens' Hall with the Grand Army of the Republic
's Harvey Holt Post. The GAR was responsible for introducing Memorial Day
celebrations into Lyndeborough, and Citizens' Hall played an important role in the annual occasion. (The Artillery began organizing the event in the 1930s.) The post also procured a cannon which had been used at Fort Constitution in Portsmouth
, New Hampshire, during the Civil War
. This naval cannon, named the Hartshorn Memorial Cannon
for former Artillery member and Civil War casualty John Alonzo Hartshorn , was placed in front of Citizens' Hall in 1902. In 1934, by town vote, it was removed to the South Lyndeborough common, and in 2009, amidst some controversy, it was moved to Lyndeborough Center. Although the cannon remains in Lyndeborough, technically it is on loan from the federal government.
By the 1950s, as interest in the Lafayette Artillery Company ebbed and the Washington's Birthday celebration ceased as an annual event, the condition of Citizens' Hall declined. Occasionally the town would spend money to repair the structure, as in the 1950s when the Board of Selectmen voted to purchase new windows, replace sills, and add a second-floor fire-escape door to the building. Finally, in the mid-1960s the town's population—which had more than doubled since 1930—necessitated the movement of the annual Town Meeting
from the old town hall at Lyndeborough Center to Citizens' Hall. Subsequently, the Board of Selectmen, Police Department, and other town agencies also moved into the building. A $20,000 renovation—utilizing volunteer labor—resulted in the construction of bathrooms, the introduction of a heating unit, and moderately better insulation for the building, but much of Citizens' Hall's charm was covered or painted over. Neglect of the building continued into the 1990s, by which time the town was faced with the question of whether to build a new town hall or more properly renovate Citizens' Hall.
Initially, the Selectmen and the town supported a renovation project that included digging out the basement of the building for use as storage space and, perhaps, a police department. That plan was abandoned, however, when workers came upon a natural spring beneath the building. Making matters worse, the Fire Marshal
threatened to close the building if Citizens’ Hall was not brought up to code, and a Nashua
architect
suggested that the town would be better off constructing a new town office building.
In 1998, after several years of disagreement between the Lyndeborough Board of Selectmen
and the town’s Budget Committee, the town was asked to vote on two plans: one to renovate Citizens’ Hall for $263,885, or build a new town hall on donated land outside the historic district at Lyndeborough Center for $327,500. A third plan, offered by budget committee members Wayne Fullerton and Burton Reynolds, involved the allocation of $186,600 to renovate the first floor of Citizens’ Hall and address the building’s major structural problems. In presenting the plan, the budget committee members admitted that the renovation would not address all of the town’s immediate needs, but would be “better than what we have.” The plan also assumed that volunteers would step forward to keep the costs of renovation down. After about eight hours of discussion, the town voted for the $186,600 plan.
To oversee the renovation, the Board of Selectmen appointed a building committee consisting of builder Phil Brooks, former selectman Bill Stephenson, and three other local residents. However, as the interest of the three others waned, Brooks brought other members aboard: Lafayette Artillery members Walter Holland and Edna Worcester; historian
and lifelong resident Stephanie Abbot Roper; geographer
Scott Roper; and carpenter, lifelong resident, and Artillery member Walter Holt. Brooks, who contributed tremendous amounts of time and materials to the project, coordinated volunteer efforts with Worcester, while Holland and Holt initiated the demolition and construction stages of the renovation. Stephanie and Scott Roper researched the building’s historic features, determining which features of the building should be preserved or restored, and spent considerable time restoring the foyer wainscoting to its original, stained (not painted) appearance. Scott Roper, who with Phil Brooks served as the group’s unofficial media liaison, worked with the New Hampshire Division of Historic Resources to determine the building’s historical significance, and eventually wrote the nomination form that led to the building being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December, 1999.
Over eighteen months, with the help of local architect Ron Ravenscroft and more than eighty volunteers, not including several local contractors who worked voluntarily at below-market wages, the town completed the renovation of Citizens’ Hall. The front hallway, stairs, and second-floor hall, as well as the building’s façade, were identified as the building’s most important historic features, and were restored as best as possible to their 1920s appearance. The former clothes room became the Selectmen’s Office, and the former Lafayette Artillery office—later a police department office—was enlarged as the office of the Town Clerk and Tax Collector
. The former kitchen was expanded and made into the Police Department office, while the former dining hall was made smaller and turned into a meeting room and two offices for the Selectmen. The beaded board formerly on the walls of the dining hall was cut and turned into wainscoting (with a new chair rail to match the original chair rail in the front hallway), and the dining room’s original pine floor was refinished and made a key feature of the new meeting room.
Amazingly, the volunteers saved so much money in their efforts that the committee was able to renovate the second floor, so that it could be used for public functions again. On February 22, 2000, the Lafayette Artillery held its first Washington’s Birthday celebration in nearly a half-century to celebrate the completion of the renovation, and in March the town held its first Town Meeting in the building since the mid-1980s. A year later, volunteers received citations from then-New Hampshire
Governor
Jeanne Shaheen
for their work.
The renovation also was significant for those who took part in it. Renovation Committee member Walter Holland was elected first to a position on the town Budget Committee, and subsequently to that of Town Moderator. Stephanie Roper became a Budget Committee member and, later, Supervisor of the Checklist. Scott Roper was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 1999 and reelected in 2002. Several others who took part in the renovation also were elected or appointed to positions in town government once the project was completed.
Today, Citizens' Hall continues to be used for social functions. The Artillery's Washington's Birthday celebration was observed annually each February from 2000 through 2007, and the building occasionally is used for town meetings and other community events. Additionally, the meetings of the town Budget Committee, Emergency Planning Committee, Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Selectmen, not to mention the offices of the Town Treasurer, Town Clerk/Tax Collector, Building Inspector, and Police Department, are located in Citizens' Hall.
Lyndeborough, New Hampshire
Lyndeborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,683 at the 2010 census.- History :Originally granted by the Massachusetts General Court to veterans of New England's first war with Canada from Salem, Massachusetts, the area was known as Salem-Canada...
. Built in 1889 in the Eastlake
Eastlake Movement
The Eastlake Movement was a nineteenth century architectural and household design reform movement started by architect and writer Charles Eastlake . The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in terms of broad antique furniture designations...
/Stick Style, but one that is also heavily influenced by the Greek Revival, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
for its importance as a community/social center for the town. It is located on Citizens' Hall Road in the village of South Lyndeborough.
Origins
Citizens' Hall was constructed by the Town of Lyndeborough between September 1888 and January 1889 to house the Lafayette Artillery CompanyLafayette Artillery Company
The Lafayette Artillery Company was founded in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1804 as the Artillery Company of the 22nd Regiment. It was part of the State of New Hampshire's artillery system, a forerunner to the National Guard. The group has continued to operate continuously since its founding,...
's armory and its annual February 22 Levee
Levee (event)
The levée is a New Year's Day social event hosted by the Governor General of Canada, the lieutenant governors, military establishments, municipalities and other institutions.- History :The word levée The levée is a New Year's Day social event hosted by the Governor General of Canada, the lieutenant...
and Ball
Ball (dance)
A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...
. Started in 1877, the Levee and Ball had become the town's most anticipated event, bringing hundreds of guests into the community. By 1888 the event had grown too large to be hosted by South Lyndeborough's three major events facilities, the Baptist Church, Tarbell's Hall (above Tarbell's Store), and Artillery Hall (above the depot). Therefore, the Lafayette Artillery raised $275 and purchased part of an apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
occupying a high point in the village along the road to Temple
Temple, New Hampshire
Temple is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,366 at the 2010 census.- History :Incorporated in 1768, Temple takes its name from colonial governor John Wentworth's lieutenant governor, John Temple.- Geography :...
(now Citizens' Hall Road) with the intention of constructing a new headquarters and social facility.
Yet the Artillery could not raise the funds to construct a headquarters. Therefore, the group petitioned the town to build the structure for it. At a town meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
in March, 1888, after much discussion, the town voted in favor of spending $2,000 on the new building, but only if the structure would serve the community as a whole. The Artillery agreed to rent space in the building for its office and armory
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
, and the town also voted to set aside space for a town library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
. (For some unknown reason, the library never was housed in Citizens' Hall despite the vote.)
Over the course of the next several months, construction of what would become Citizens' Hall was delayed as a group of townspeople petitioned the Hillsborough County
Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 380,841 people, 144,455 households, and 98,807 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 149,961 housing units at an average density of 171 per square mile...
Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
to overturn the town's March vote. When their petition was denied, the group was able to call a special town meeting to reconsider the issue. In September, after another lengthy discussion, the town voted to table the articles before them, and within days a granite foundation had been set in place.
Plan and Construction
During the summer prior to construction, the Citizens' Hall building committee—composed of Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
veterans and local politicians Jason Holt, B.G. Herrick, and Fred Richardson, as well as Lafayette Artillery members Andy Holt and Charles Henry Holt—designed a simple structure resembling the nearby Baptist Church. Like the church, the main body was designed in the Classical Revival style, with its pediment facing the road. The facade, however, was designed in the then-current Eastlakes/Stick style, a popular Victorian architectural style which originated in upstate New York. The facade includes a cross-gabled hip roof, and the front porch a decorative truss and diagonal support braces typical of this style.
After the town approved the project in September, 1888, work proceeded rapidly on the structure. Artillery member D. C. Grant, through his company D. C. Grant and Sons, headed the construction effort, and the town purchased building materials from Whiting and Sons and other companies in nearby Wilton, New Hampshire
Wilton, New Hampshire
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 3,743 people, 1,410 households, and 1,023 families living in the town. The population density was 145.3 people per square mile . There were 1,451 housing units at an average density of 56.3 per square mile...
. As a result, portions of the structure are vaguely similar to features on a storefront (now used as a restaurant) and an adjacent house on Wilton's Main Street.
People entering the building through the main (north) entrance were met with a floor plan that featured two staircases on either side of the entrance, both of which led to the second-floor grand hall. The first-floor lobby included a ticket window on the east wall, behind which was the Artillery's meeting room; as well as another small pass-through opening to the "clothes room" (or "cloak room") behind the west wall. The pine trim was painted an off-white color, in contrast to the medium-grey plaster walls, and the wainscotting and plank floor were stained brown.
Beyond the front hallway was the banquet hall, the walls of which were lined in horizontal painted wooden boards. In the southwest corner was the armory, where the Artillery kept its munitions and uniforms, while in the southeast corner was the kitchen (although this room remained unfinished until 1890). A passageway between the two rooms led to the connected outhouse, or "backhouse."
In the kitchen was another staircase, this one leading to the stage area in the second floor hall. North of the stage was the ballroom, with its 14-foot ceiling and large windows. Patrons accessed the second floor of the backhouse as well as the attic stairs from the backstage area.
On January 5, 1889, the Artillery held its first meeting in the not-yet-completed building. Ten days later, former Artillery captain Joel Tarbell and his wife, Esther, held the first public event in the hall's history: their golden wedding anniversary. Sixteen days later, the Artillery and the town formally dedicated the building. Although "Union Hall" had been mentioned as a possible name for the structure, "Citizens' Hall" appears to have been chosen to emphasize that the building belonged to the community, not only to the Civil War veterans and Artillery members who asked that it be built. The first February 22 Levee and Ball to be hosted in the building was held on February 22, 1889.
1889-1997
In its early years, Citizens' Hall was used as the primary social-gathering site in South Lyndeborough. The Lafayette Artillery held drills in the ballroom and dinners in the dining room, and stored most of its arms on-site. (The group's 1844 brass cannon was kept in a shed adjacent to Citizens' Hall.) The group also hosted public events, including the annual Washington's BirthdayWashington's Birthday
Washington's Birthday is a United States federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States. It is also commonly known as Presidents Day...
Levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
and Ball
Ball
A ball is a round, usually spherical but sometimes ovoid, object with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling...
, until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. On the occasion of the annual ball, Artillery members would erect a 50-foot flagpole atop Citizens' Hall, from which they would fly the company flag.
The Town of Lyndeborough appropriated money to complete the interior of the building in the early 1890s, and in 1910 purchased a pressed-tin ceiling for the ballroom. In the 1920s, when South Lyndeborough received electricity, the Artillery paid to have the building wired, and purchased new electric light fixtures to replace the old gas lamps. The original gas lamp above the front entrance to the building was wired and re-used as an electric light. The 1920s electric lights, as well as the lamp above the front doors, are still in use as of December 2009, and are considered essential elements of the building's historic value.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Artillery shared Citizens' Hall with the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
's Harvey Holt Post. The GAR was responsible for introducing Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
celebrations into Lyndeborough, and Citizens' Hall played an important role in the annual occasion. (The Artillery began organizing the event in the 1930s.) The post also procured a cannon which had been used at Fort Constitution in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, New Hampshire, during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. This naval cannon, named the Hartshorn Memorial Cannon
Hartshorn Memorial Cannon
The Hartshorn Memorial Cannon is a decommissioned American Civil War naval cannon that forms the centerpiece of the South Lyndeborough Village Common in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire...
for former Artillery member and Civil War casualty John Alonzo Hartshorn , was placed in front of Citizens' Hall in 1902. In 1934, by town vote, it was removed to the South Lyndeborough common, and in 2009, amidst some controversy, it was moved to Lyndeborough Center. Although the cannon remains in Lyndeborough, technically it is on loan from the federal government.
By the 1950s, as interest in the Lafayette Artillery Company ebbed and the Washington's Birthday celebration ceased as an annual event, the condition of Citizens' Hall declined. Occasionally the town would spend money to repair the structure, as in the 1950s when the Board of Selectmen voted to purchase new windows, replace sills, and add a second-floor fire-escape door to the building. Finally, in the mid-1960s the town's population—which had more than doubled since 1930—necessitated the movement of the annual Town Meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
from the old town hall at Lyndeborough Center to Citizens' Hall. Subsequently, the Board of Selectmen, Police Department, and other town agencies also moved into the building. A $20,000 renovation—utilizing volunteer labor—resulted in the construction of bathrooms, the introduction of a heating unit, and moderately better insulation for the building, but much of Citizens' Hall's charm was covered or painted over. Neglect of the building continued into the 1990s, by which time the town was faced with the question of whether to build a new town hall or more properly renovate Citizens' Hall.
Renovation of 1998-2000
By the 1990s, Citizens’ Hall was in severe disrepair. In 1988 the second-floor hall was closed to public functions because of possible structural and fire hazards. The police department made the space its own for a few years, during which time the ballroom deteriorated further. Rust spots became noticeable on the ceiling, the floor became worn under the desks and chairs of department personnel, and artifacts were screwed, taped, or otherwise affixed to the plaster walls and wood wainscoting. The first floor looked even worse, as the Board of Selectmen made a decision to forego basic maintenance in an effort to persuade the town to vote on the building’s future.Initially, the Selectmen and the town supported a renovation project that included digging out the basement of the building for use as storage space and, perhaps, a police department. That plan was abandoned, however, when workers came upon a natural spring beneath the building. Making matters worse, the Fire Marshal
Fire Marshal
A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a fire department but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement and/or investigating fires for origin and cause...
threatened to close the building if Citizens’ Hall was not brought up to code, and a Nashua
Nashua, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
suggested that the town would be better off constructing a new town office building.
In 1998, after several years of disagreement between the Lyndeborough Board of Selectmen
Board of selectmen
The board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms.-History:...
and the town’s Budget Committee, the town was asked to vote on two plans: one to renovate Citizens’ Hall for $263,885, or build a new town hall on donated land outside the historic district at Lyndeborough Center for $327,500. A third plan, offered by budget committee members Wayne Fullerton and Burton Reynolds, involved the allocation of $186,600 to renovate the first floor of Citizens’ Hall and address the building’s major structural problems. In presenting the plan, the budget committee members admitted that the renovation would not address all of the town’s immediate needs, but would be “better than what we have.” The plan also assumed that volunteers would step forward to keep the costs of renovation down. After about eight hours of discussion, the town voted for the $186,600 plan.
To oversee the renovation, the Board of Selectmen appointed a building committee consisting of builder Phil Brooks, former selectman Bill Stephenson, and three other local residents. However, as the interest of the three others waned, Brooks brought other members aboard: Lafayette Artillery members Walter Holland and Edna Worcester; historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and lifelong resident Stephanie Abbot Roper; geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
Scott Roper; and carpenter, lifelong resident, and Artillery member Walter Holt. Brooks, who contributed tremendous amounts of time and materials to the project, coordinated volunteer efforts with Worcester, while Holland and Holt initiated the demolition and construction stages of the renovation. Stephanie and Scott Roper researched the building’s historic features, determining which features of the building should be preserved or restored, and spent considerable time restoring the foyer wainscoting to its original, stained (not painted) appearance. Scott Roper, who with Phil Brooks served as the group’s unofficial media liaison, worked with the New Hampshire Division of Historic Resources to determine the building’s historical significance, and eventually wrote the nomination form that led to the building being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December, 1999.
Over eighteen months, with the help of local architect Ron Ravenscroft and more than eighty volunteers, not including several local contractors who worked voluntarily at below-market wages, the town completed the renovation of Citizens’ Hall. The front hallway, stairs, and second-floor hall, as well as the building’s façade, were identified as the building’s most important historic features, and were restored as best as possible to their 1920s appearance. The former clothes room became the Selectmen’s Office, and the former Lafayette Artillery office—later a police department office—was enlarged as the office of the Town Clerk and Tax Collector
Tax collector
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. Tax collectors are often portrayed in fiction as being evil, and in the modern world share a somewhat similar stereotype to that of lawyers....
. The former kitchen was expanded and made into the Police Department office, while the former dining hall was made smaller and turned into a meeting room and two offices for the Selectmen. The beaded board formerly on the walls of the dining hall was cut and turned into wainscoting (with a new chair rail to match the original chair rail in the front hallway), and the dining room’s original pine floor was refinished and made a key feature of the new meeting room.
Amazingly, the volunteers saved so much money in their efforts that the committee was able to renovate the second floor, so that it could be used for public functions again. On February 22, 2000, the Lafayette Artillery held its first Washington’s Birthday celebration in nearly a half-century to celebrate the completion of the renovation, and in March the town held its first Town Meeting in the building since the mid-1980s. A year later, volunteers received citations from then-New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the Senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. The first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, serving from...
for their work.
The renovation also was significant for those who took part in it. Renovation Committee member Walter Holland was elected first to a position on the town Budget Committee, and subsequently to that of Town Moderator. Stephanie Roper became a Budget Committee member and, later, Supervisor of the Checklist. Scott Roper was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 1999 and reelected in 2002. Several others who took part in the renovation also were elected or appointed to positions in town government once the project was completed.
Since 2000
Since 2000, Citizens' Hall has been more appreciated by local residents. In 2002, the Board of Selectmen voted to paint Citizens' Hall—which previously always had been white—a light grey color to contrast with the building's white trim. The board hoped to convey the building's architectural importance to the town by emphasizing the nineteenth-century stickwork and trim that few who use the building notice.Today, Citizens' Hall continues to be used for social functions. The Artillery's Washington's Birthday celebration was observed annually each February from 2000 through 2007, and the building occasionally is used for town meetings and other community events. Additionally, the meetings of the town Budget Committee, Emergency Planning Committee, Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Selectmen, not to mention the offices of the Town Treasurer, Town Clerk/Tax Collector, Building Inspector, and Police Department, are located in Citizens' Hall.
Sources
- D. Donovan and Jacob Woodward. 1906. The History of the Town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, 1735-1905. H. W. Whittemore and Co.
- Scott C. Roper. 2000. Citizens' Hall: A History of Lyndeborough's "Other" Town Hall, 1888-2000. Lyndeborough, NH: Hadley Pond Press.
- Stephanie Abbot Roper and Scott C. Roper. 2004. Citizen Soldiers: New Hampshire's Lafayette Artillery Company, 1804-2004. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall, Publisher.