by Pete Zizka
10-23-2021
At a town meeting in December, 1894, several more possible sites for a
town building were added to a
growing list. They were the Loomer lot (on Broad Street between
Union and Valley Streets), the Rev. DeBruycker lot (site of Saint
Mary’s Church today), and the Congregational Church lot (which the
church refused to sell). Then, one more possibility, the
Green-Randall lots on Valley Street. Together, they would be large
enough and “the center of the lot would be almost at the center of
Bank Street, thus rendering any building on it plainly visible from
Main Street. A week after the town meeting, “street talk” was mainly
about the site and three sites seem to have been favored. The
Brayman lot on Bank Street between Valley and Meadow Streets was the
top choice since it was felt to be the easiest as far as
accessibility and was also believed that it would become a
“compromise choice”. . Those who insisted that the town building be
on Main Street favored the Chase lot. The DeBruycker lot was
considered to be closest to the center of the city but was not a
strong contender. And so, on December 18,
1894, at the largest attended town meeting in Windham’s
history, over 500 people gathered to vote. The meeting was difficult
and contentious. The first speaker was E.S. Boss of the Linen
Company who claimed that,” by request of the management of the great
company he represented…in the present condition of business and with
so large an indebtedness as the town and city had already assumed
(he was referring to the High School), that they (the Linen Company)
did not consider it advisable to increase it.” Boss then moved to
postpone the vote and his motion was immediately ruled out of order
by the Moderator Meloney. Boss appealed the ruling but, by a vote of
225 to 206 the ruling was upheld. Immediately after, a motion to
adjourn was made. This was discussed and another thirty minutes were
eaten up while people cast paper ballots. The motion to adjourn lost
276-207. Then came the presentation of possible sites and
discussions about them.
Several people spoke in favor of one or another lot and finally the
voting commenced. The tally showed 409 votes, of which the top three
were for the Chase lot (203), Loomer’s lot (69), deBruycker’s lot
(61). The vote for the Chase lot was two short of a majority and so
a second ballot was ordered. The total for the second vote was 300.
Now, the Chase lot garnered 181 votes, the Loomer lot 76 and the
DeBruycker lot 20. The Chase lot was declared to be selected and at
that point there was a motion to adjourn. It lost 186-93. Then a
motion to appropriate $75,000 to purchase the lot and erect the town
building was made. It was opposed twice and amendments offered but
eventually carried. At this same meeting, $30,000 was appropriated
for the high school. The Chase lot was then
purchased by the committee on behalf of the town. That should
have been the end of it but in Windham, nothing comes easily. The
next day, rumors started that a petition was being circulated for
yet another town meeting to undo the work of the previous day’s town
meeting. It was supposedly in the hands of, and approved by, several
“prominent men”. One of the main reasons for the petition and the
apparent change of sentiment of many toward the project was
attributed to the Linen Company’s attitude. Some people evidently
felt that even though at the end of the previous day’s meeting,
there seemed to be no great opposition, that perhaps the Linen
Company’s position should have been given more consideration since
through its taxes, it would be paying about 25 percent of the cost.
The $30,000 appropriated for the high school was alright but the
$75,00 for the town building was seen as too much as the Linen
Company,” like almost every other manufacturing concern, is
suffering from the recent business depression”.
The town selectman then issued a
warning for a town meeting to be held on January 12, 1895. The
announcement said the purpose was, “To see if the town will rescind
the vote passed at the meetings of December 7 and 14 to erect a town
building on the Chase Lot…and all votes instructing the selectmen to
incur any expense relative to the purchase of the lot and erection
of any buildings thereon”.
One of today’s photos is the earliest one of Main Street. The area to the
left of the Lincoln Building (the Loomer Lot) was one possible site.
The other photo, taken at Main and Bank Streets show another
possible site – the Randall-Green lots at the end of Bank Street.
The thirs photo is of the actual vote tally sheets from that night.
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CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER VERSIONS