History of the Historic Building:
The Old Town Hall (OTH) was built in 1856 as a boardinghouse for workers at the Fork Shop next to the Floating Bridge. In 1874 it was purchased by the Masons, who used it for 98 years. The large meeting hall was added to the boardinghouse in 1900 and dedicated to the town in 1902. The Old Town Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and was under private ownership from 1972-2002.
The Brookfield Community Partnership (BCP), incorporated as a non-profit to renovate the OTH and strengthen the community by bringing people together, purchased the historic building at an auction on August 3, 2002. BCP revitalization activities over the past almost 20 years have centered on bringing the Old Town Hall back into vibrant community use.
Funding:
The BCP Board of Directors and Committees (fundraising, events, building maintenance, rentals), as well as many town citizens have worked hard and creatively together over the years to find funding from Federal, State, and local sources, including foundations, local businesses and many individual donations for myriad projects necessary to bring a building into community use. These projects have ranged from a new concrete and fieldstone foundation; a new standing seam roof, and window restoration according to guidelines from the VT Division of Historic Preservation; composting toilets, paid for with individual donations to our “It’s potty time!” campaign – and with a $20K contribution voted by the town at the 2010 town meeting; painting the inside of the building’s rooms by volunteers, and with guidance from the Preservation Trust of VT on historic colors; and landscaping. For details about the many OTH projects over the years, see our yearly newsletters collected in the Newsletter Archive.