Enfield Center
The historic building on Route 4A requires major floor repairs before it can once again host dances and civic meetings in the village. But after the town withdrew its application for a highly competitive state grant, it’s unclear from where money for construction will come.
A community meeting is scheduled for Friday to brainstorm ideas and gauge interest in a potential fundraising effort, according to Meredith Smith, chairwoman of the Enfield Heritage Commission and a member of the town’s Selectboard.
“It could be a wonderful facility for Enfield,” she said in an interview last week. “But first we have to make sure it doesn’t rot into the brook.”
Structural troubles in the Town House first were realized during an Old Home Day dance in 2015, when people reported that one corner of the floor was “spongy,” Smith said. An engineering firm later looked into the problem and deemed the building unsafe for occupancy, she said.
“The structural report said the building has suffered damage due to the moisture coming from a nearby brook,” Smith said.
The Town House also is without running water or bathrooms, which have been provided to guests by the nearby Enfield Center Union Church, which also has provided parking for functions.
The town, which owns the building, first resolved to mitigate moisture from the brook, Smith said, and received a $10,000 grant funded through the New Hampshire conservation license plate program. Officials also applied to have the Town House listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with hopes that the listing could open the door to more grants.
In 2017, the building was approved for the list and Smith said she quickly began working to obtain a New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program grant for $15,000. But shortly before the deadline last month, she said she was discouraged from applying.
The LCHIP grants rarely pay for drainage work, Smith said she was told by an administrator of the program.
Around the same time, Smith said, a local builder went under the Town House and reported bad news.
“The floor was rotted completely. A third to a half would have to be … taken out and replaced,” she said. “I decided not to submit an LCHIP grant with the two very distressing pieces of news I got.”
While it will take considerable work, the building is worth saving and is considered by many to be a historic gem in the heart of Enfield Center, Smith said.
The Town House was built in 1845 to serve as Enfield’s first town hall, partially in response to passage of the Toleration Act of 1819, according to the New Hampshire Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.
The state law banned the use of taxpayer dollars to support buildings that host religious services, and kicked off municipal construction throughout the Granite State, as towns looked to build meeting spaces apart from churches.
After the initial construction, the Town House saw a few changes. It was moved to its current home on Route 4A in 1859, and renovated to become a social hall in 1909.
The renovation added a raised stage with a proscenium arch and canvas backdrops of West Lebanon painted by William Culver, according to the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources. The floor also was replaced and a kitchen area was installed with a tin dry sink.
When Enfield held its last Town Meeting in the building in 1916, the Town House already had transitioned into a social center, where the Enfield Center Village Improvement Society held plays, masquerade balls and game nights. The society later was replaced in its mission by the women-only Earnest Workers Club, which raised money for social causes in town.
Today, the building remains an example of Greek Revival architecture and is one of the oldest standing structures in town.
“If we could get this building into some kind of usable condition, it could be the impetus of a renaissance of Enfield Center itself,” Smith said, suggesting it could again host dances and other community events.
A public forum on the Town House is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday at the Enfield Center Union Church at 1042 Route 4A.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.