Volunteers see to the restoration, renovation of Smyrna Town Hall
SMYRNA – Renovation, restoration and general cleanup of the Smyrna Town Hall is slowly but surely progressing towards the refurbishment of the 105-year old building.
Without any major funding, the project has relied primarily on volunteer work from citizens, town and county historians, volunteer firefighters, as well as the town crew workers.
“Things have been moving along pretty well,” said deputy village mayor David Raimy.
The Smyrna Town Hall is listed on the state historical registry. Built in 1908, the building has served the community over the intervening hundred-plus years as town hall, opera house, school and fire department storehouse. But with rich history comes rich amounts of baggage.
“Since 1919, everything has just been thrown into boxes,” said town historian Bob Matteson, gesturing to the massive quantity of historical documents which still populate the building’s interior and must be sorted through before many of the renovations can begin.
The ultimate goal of the project is to restore the ancient building’s stage and balcony, which have been walled and closed off.
“The building was originally built to be an opera house and our long term plans call for the reestablishment of that,” said Matteson.
The historian’s old room, which once served as the opera house’s ticket office, has been renovated and boasts newly-treated flooring. Other sections of the building have also been gutted and renovated by Matteson, but the challenge of refurbishing and opening up the walled off stage as well as the closed off balcony still lay ahead.
“We are doing a lot of the work ourselves and have a number of volunteers to help out,” said Matteson.
Without any major funding, the project has relied primarily on volunteer work from citizens, town and county historians, volunteer firefighters, as well as the town crew workers.
“Things have been moving along pretty well,” said deputy village mayor David Raimy.
The Smyrna Town Hall is listed on the state historical registry. Built in 1908, the building has served the community over the intervening hundred-plus years as town hall, opera house, school and fire department storehouse. But with rich history comes rich amounts of baggage.
“Since 1919, everything has just been thrown into boxes,” said town historian Bob Matteson, gesturing to the massive quantity of historical documents which still populate the building’s interior and must be sorted through before many of the renovations can begin.
The ultimate goal of the project is to restore the ancient building’s stage and balcony, which have been walled and closed off.
“The building was originally built to be an opera house and our long term plans call for the reestablishment of that,” said Matteson.
The historian’s old room, which once served as the opera house’s ticket office, has been renovated and boasts newly-treated flooring. Other sections of the building have also been gutted and renovated by Matteson, but the challenge of refurbishing and opening up the walled off stage as well as the closed off balcony still lay ahead.
“We are doing a lot of the work ourselves and have a number of volunteers to help out,” said Matteson.
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