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new proposal: to build the new town house “on land of Horatio
Hamilton, nearly opposite the house of S.C. Loring, the lot to
extend from New Gloucester Road to the Hallowell Road.”
In other words—in Walnut Hill.
No diaries have been found that give an idea of the
disagreement. The Six Town Times gives some cursory mention
of the debate, but no more than that. The official record gives
less! Without any eyewitness accounts it’s hard to know just
what went on at that meeting, but we can assume there were
more than a few angry words, judging from the motion made:
to overturn the $2,000 expenditure for a brand new Town
House and to cancel all other ideas about repairing the existing
building OR moving it away from its present location.
The final vote was 96 yeas and 54 nays. East North
Yarmouth had prevailed; the Town House’s granite supporting
posts, it might be imagined, burrowed themselves a little
deeper into the soil!
Updating and Upkeep
For the next several town meetings, any article that dealt
with repairing the Town House was promptly dismissed.
Finally, in 1914, a Town House Committee composed of local
contractor A. E. (Albert) Hodsdon and the Selectmen—A.
L. Dunn, J. M. Prince, and E.M. Lombard—were appointed
to “investigate” building a new Town House. But at the 1915
Town Meeting voters postponed any action on this idea and
instead allocated $100 to shingle the building.
Starting in the summer of 1917 through 1924, there was a
flurry of activity, and the Town House was renovated. After a
1918 presentation of a plan by Albert Hodsdon, the town raised
$400 for repairs ($9,000 in current dollars). Old furniture was
disposed of. Windows were revamped; a new one was installed
in the gable end. The abandoned Sligo Road schoolhouse
was moved to the Town House lot and its materials were used
to construct the Town House’s horse sheds. (The District #9
schoohouse known as the Washington School, located across
from 881 Sligo Road, had closed in 1903.)
The Selectmen were directed in 1918 to “procure a Roll
of Honor for those men that have been called to the service
from this town [to] be framed and hung in the Town Hall
and … a copy of the Roll of Honor be given to the Town
Clerk ...” If this was done, it has not survived. But instead
(or in addition to) this idea, a committee was formed to raise
funds for developing a North Yarmouth Memorial Highway,
the stretch of Route 9 between Walnut Hill and East North
Yarmouth that stands today as a unique remembrance to the
town’s veterans.
In 1923 the Selectmen’s office was finished off, and the
modern administrative center of the town was now nicely
updated. This was the last extensive work done until 1943
when the building was altered to accommodate schoolchildren,
and until 1976 when North Yarmouth Historical Society
volunteers restored the interior to its 1920s appearance.
The modern era arrived at the Town House on June
28, 1931, when Henry G. Rogers installed electric lights.
Electricity for the town’s schoolhouses, however, was voted
down at Town Meeting that year! It was finally done in 1936.
Town Records
The town turned its attention to the care of its old records
in 1919. Possibly, this was the result of some urging by
Edward Loring after a scare. An undated newspaper clipping
noted that “Town Clerk E. D. Loring says that in the recent acts
of vandalism connected with the town house at North Yarmouth
none of the town records were destroyed. Other papers and articles
were damaged by the vandals, but the town clerk’s records were
not disturbed. This statement is a very important one, because
many historical facts connected with the early history of six towns
are determined by the early records of old North Yarmouth …”
These early records refer to late 17th and 18th century
bound volumes, including the Proprietors’ Records. Since
the Town House’s “brick safe [was] beginning to leak &
door needs repair” it was voted in 1923 to spend $500 on
a “modern” safe for the most valuable records, probably to
Loring’s great relief. (Edward Dafforne Loring served as
Town Clerk for 50 years until his death at age 81 on February
13, 1923.) The brick safe was demolished and in its place
a “ladies” dressing room” was constructed.This area is now
the kitchen; no sign remains of any brick construction.
A great deal of loose receipts, voters lists, election results,
tax records, and notes had also been kept over the years. At
the end of a certain period of time, and/or at the end of their
tenure, clerks would bundle up the records with strips of paper
as wrappers. Each wrapper was given a date and notes about
the contents. These were all packed in boxes and stored in
the Town House attic. More about these papers later.
Around 1933, the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
inventoried the town records, sorting them and putting
them into wooden boxes. They rebound one early volume;
some typescripts were created. They also uncovered many
items not known to exist, including a letter from Thomas
Jefferson. This document unfortunately disappeared in the
1960s. However, thankfully, WPA workers had carefully
photographed the letter.
The GAZETTE 9