ALEXANDRIA'S TOWN HALLS

Alexandria appears to have had two purposefully built town halls.  Unofficially, we could also include Buxton's "Old Red" Tavern in those times before 1885. 

I know very little of this first, older Town Hall other than to say it occupied the lot across the alley from the site of Buxton's 'Old Red' Tavern, where CenturyLink has a communication station as well as Brad and Vicki Wood's property (the old Zora Mowery house).  There was, apparently, plenty of space behind the building to park your horse and buggy.  The post office was also in this building.  The clapboard building remains unidentified.

The Johnstown Independent reported around 1900 that, "The vote on the new town hall will be a special ticket and separate ballot box.  Be sure and vote YES and you will never regret it."  Most who voted would live to see their investment in the new Town Hall go up in smoke.  Any salvageable items to be had were sold out.  A house was built of reused bricks. 

As I remember hearing, the old town hall was strictly business.  There was a mayor's office, offices for clerks, and maybe a constabulary and maybe a township office or two.  The hoosegow -rarely used - was out back.  There is a nice feel that Alexandria is real.   There is a feeling that Alexandria is important.

At some point, Alexandria built a new Town Hall.  Since there is a telephone/electric pole in the picture, we can believe this picture was taken after 1900.

and within a few years, it burnt completely, leaving a brick shell,

On Saturday, November 26, 1916, the new Town Hall completely burnt.  There would never be a new townhall to replace it.  Alexandria had already lost its old business block in 1905, only to be re-constructed from brick and concrete.  Former Alexandris resident, David Reed, states that the Alexandria Fire Brigade called on Granville for assistance.  Granville responded with 100 men and buckets to help contain the fire.

The 'new' Town Hall was more than that.  The second floor was largely open.  This space could show movies, hold dances, or serve a variety of presentations, lectures, or other large functions.  It was gone, never to be rebuild.

But - being Alexandria - a solution appeared.  Alexandria had a new high school, and it was grand.  On the ground floor were four classrooms along the south side.  On the eastern end was a hallway heading north with the furnace room on the left and the boy's restroom on the right.  At the end of the hallway was the shop where woodworking skills were taught.  The pattern repeated on the west hall with a girl's restroom and at the end, the home economics room, where cooking and sewing were taught.  The cafeteria and kitchen filled the space between these halls.

The Alexandria High School, about the late 1930s.

The second floor mirrored the first in pattern.  The gym, long time home to the Alexandria "Red Devils" was directly above the cafeteria.  To the east was the stage, some three feet above the floor.  To the west was a shortened classroom with a projection room behind.  The principal's office and teacher's lounge were small rooms located halfway up the stairs at each end of the building.  Alexandria had a 'newer' town hall in the form of a high school.

The two town halls are no more.  Alexandria High School is no more.  Alexandria was becoming a bedroom community.  Since then, the township has moved into the old livery and feed store and the village was holding meetings at the firehouse.  The village eventually took the space offered by the now available Shell Oil gas station on Granville Street before moving into the now vacant Huntington Bank (former Alexandria Bank) offices.

I miss those days in May when I walked to school knowing that in a couple of weeks, it would be summer.