Hartford
After hearing a plan summary from society Director Martha Knapp, the Hartford Selectboard unanimously passed a motion in favor of the idea during its regularly scheduled meeting.
Knapp said that the Elks Lodge, which is located right down the street from the society’s current headquarters in the Garipay House on Route 14, has 19th century architectural features that have been well-preserved by the Elks.
“It’s such a wonderful gem,” she said.
In recent years, the building has been used as a bingo hall; in downtown White River Junction, a dedicated bingo hall was recently displaced by a renovation to facilitate the expansion of the Tuckerbox Restaurant.
Knapp said she felt like the bingo activities could be continued under the Society’s ownership.
“They just want it two nights a week when we’re usually not open,” Knapp said.
While many people associate the building with its more recent tenants, the lodge, also known as “Summeracre” or the “Horace Pease House,” is also a part of the Hartford Village Historic District.
“It’s a big opportunity for our whole village to be a really nice historical center,” Knapp said.
Pease, who owned a farm tool business, the Pease Hotel, and lumber and grist mills, bought the property for $2,800 in 1883, reportedly as a showplace for his bride, Seraph, according to an official description of the district.
About 150 people attended the christening of the Queen Anne style woodframe house in 1884; its features include a gabled roof and a large open porch.
Founded more than 75 years ago, the Elks Lodge No. 1541 went into decline after 2008, when the Vermont Supreme Court denied its appeal to a sexual discrimination case that came about after the lodge denied membership to seven women applicants.
Over the past several years, attorneys for the women and the Vermont Human Rights Commission have pursued the lodge and its officers for damages and legal fees; last year, an attorney put the total owed at more than $750,000.
In 2013, longtime member and property owner Richard Daniels was owed more than $1 million from the Elks.
Town property records show that the building is appraised at $612,200 and was sold by Daniels to an entity called “14 Elk Street” for zero dollars in 2015.
Knapp said the Society may allow a portion of the building to be dedicated to continued commercial use.
“I’m curious what happens to the Garipay House,” Selectboard member Dennis Brown said.
“That is on the burner. To be determined,” Knapp answered.
She said she was unsure whether the new building would be enough to house the Society’s collections on its own.
“We’re not sure if everything will fit, and that we’ll have enough room for growth, which we need because people keep giving us all these wonderful artifacts,” she said.
She said the Society’s ability to maintain long-term ownership of the two buildings would depend on fundraising.
“It would be an ideal location for the Hartford Historical Society to celebrate its 30th year in 2017,” Town Manager Leo Pullar said.
In other news, Selectboard members expressed concern that an effort to bring citizens into the budgeting process may have hit a snag.
After years of planning, the town sent residents a survey last week about municipal services; the Selectboard plans to use the survey results to help guide their decisions for the 2017-18 budget, which will be drafted in the coming months.
But Brown expressed concern that the mailer looks too much like junk mail; the tri-folded survey has no identifying information on its front, and the town logo on its back.
Selectboard member Simon Dennis said that he and other members of the survey committee had been so focused on ensuring that the survey’s content would produce scientifically sound results that they had neglected the visuals.
Pullar and other Selectboard members said they would renew their efforts to spread the word to residents to ensure that they understood the survey’s value.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.