A VISUAL HISTORY OF THIS HISTORIC BUILDING AND THE FUTURE PLANS OF THE NORTHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THIS BUILDING

The land for the building was acquired by rental from Levi Underwood in 1865 and was built in the same year. The building and land belonged to the town/Levi Underwood until 1977 when it was bought by Robert Daniels. The next owners were two women who bought the building in 1982 to be renovated and used as a place of business for the local newspaper, The Northfield News. As part of the renovations, the original fire house bell was taken out and refurbished. It was then reinstalled and is still there. After the two women sold the newspaper they stayed co- owners of the building and rented it out as a dwelling.

In February of 2013 Edna Kain became the sole owner of the building and has since decided to donate the building to the Northfield Historical Society. The Historical Society is in the progress of determining whether it would be beneficial to accept the offer. During the time the building belonged to the village, it was used in a variety of ways: Served as Fire House #1 until the 1940’s when a new firehouse was built village meeting hall town jail (used to hold prisoners until transport to the county jail in Montpelier) boy scout troop meetings the town’s first theatre (named Theatorium) where admission was 5 cents court room for the Marsh –Buzzell murder trial in 1897.

The building has been vacant since There has been no upkeep on the building, so it is in need of major renovations. The following slides will show a visual history of the building since 1865.

Exterior wall of jail Jailer’s room The door and window bar are still intact to this day.

LeftRight

Picture is of the first floor which seems to be the only floor which was actually renovated and used.

Second Floor As can be seen was used for the Boy Scout meetings.

Short Term Plans Determining if it will be financially possible to acquire and maintain the building If financially possibly to acquire and maintain the building the use would be for the Northfield Historical Society Museum Open up the first floor for that use as soon as possible to show the community that this building can once again be a place that they can take pride Restore access to the fire house bell and the bell tower

Long Term Plans Make the building and grounds ADA compliant so that all members of the community may enjoy the history that this building can offer. Raise appropriate funds and apply for grants in helping to restore this building so that the community can be proud of this part of their history. Include in our plans for restoration a way for the community to use the second floor for meetings as needed. This would include technology upgrades for internet and computer usage for presentations.

To the Northfield, VT Historical Society for the use of their pictures from the archives and use of their facility during this research. To the Northfield, VT town office the use of the town records for tracing the property history. To Floyd Stuart for the use of his photographs from 1982 and of more insight into the history of the building.