80 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PUTNEY COMMUNITY CENTER
By Laurel Ellis and Leon Cooper
August, 2005
The history of the Putney Community Center begins even before it was built as the new Baptist Meeting House. Earlier deeds indicate that a house stood on the site, or was to be built on the site, as an 1883 deed for the parcel included water rights to a nearby shared well for a one-family dwelling house.
Examining the existing structure closely makes a strong case that the rear portion of the building is the dwelling house referred to. An outside window is still visible from the stairs leading from the stage to the small upper rooms of the main building making it obvious that the structure was once independent of the former church. Small town rumor sometimes will tell you that the church was moved from its former site somewhere on West Hill or Putney Mountain, but deed research strongly indicates that not to be the case. Further, according to the Fortnightly Club’s 1953 History of Putney, the former Baptist Church was sold around 1860 and was “taken down and the material used for other purpose. The front door of Mrs. Mary Thwing’s house came from this building.” The Baptist congregation did not reorganize again independently in Putney until 1880, when it temporarily held services in the Town Hall. The new church was built on Christian Square in 1884 and thrived “until 1919 when the members joined the Methodist and Congregationalist to form the present Federated Church” [now the United Church of Putney]. It makes sense that it was built to abut the existing house so that it could be utilized as extra space for other church activities.
The building was purchased by Miss Sara Andrews and Miss Bertha Estey who then donated the property to the Putney Community Center when it was formed on September 10, 1925. Charter members present adopted a constitution and by-laws which contained their purpose: “to unite the community through education and recreational activities for better citizenship.” The organization’s first Chairman of the Board was George D. Aiken, who history shows was able to parlay this prestigious position into becoming Governor of Vermont – and later, U. S. Senator.
The first officers were President, Miss Bertha Estey; Vice President, Mrs. E. H. Richardson; Secretary, Mrs. Esther Pratt; and Treasurer, Harry Monroe. Mrs. Pratt also served as director from 1925 to 1942 and played a major, positive role in the development of Putney’s children during that period.
Funding came from proceeds from the Center’s annual “Opportunity Sales” which were finally abandoned in the 1980’s. Part of the proceeds from some of the events also helped keep the programs going. An Annual Drive was held each year seeking donations of $1.00 (“or more”) from each member age 16 or over to help with operating expenses.
One of the best accounts of the activities of the town now in our archives is a paper entitled “A study of the Town of Putney, Vermont – 1936” written by one of Putney School’s first students, Monica Owen. A valuable resource for many other subjects, she devotes two pages to the Community Center from which the following is taken:
The Community Center is primarily for recreation. The children used to be at a loss as to what to do after school, and so a very full program has been arranged. Something is nearly always happening here.
Each of the various organizations, such as the Scouts, has an evening for a meeting or to put on some kind of entertainment once a week. Monday someone from out of town comes in and entertains any who may want to come. Tuesday night the Boy Scouts meet, Wednesday the boys’ basketball team plays an out of town team, (40 boys come sometimes from the town), Thursday the Putney orchestra meets (with its 11 members), Friday there is usually a dance or something lasting until midnight. Sometimes card parties are held then. Monday and Wednesday afternoons there are sewing classes for the girls, two afternoons someone takes care of all the little children in the town so that the mothers may leave if they wish to. Then there are pool and shuffle board tournaments for the older children. Some afternoons the children from the Central School receive instruction in basketball, their only chance at this sort of thing, as there are no extensive playgrounds. In summer there are picnics, a field day, swimming, boxing and wrestling for the boys (given by the Center’s instructor). For the parents there are the dances, the outside entertainments (movies, magician and marionettes for the children as well). …Mrs. Pratt said that there were a number of moronic children in town and there were others whose tendencies to wander off the straight and narrow worried her a good deal…The main difficulty seems to be that there are quite a few unemployed boys hanging around with nothing to do except get into trouble with the girls younger than themselves at the school. Unfortunately the girls seem to take to this…”
During World War II, a very active PCC published its own newspaper, the Putney
Reporter. Mimeographed, on a machine in the office of the Aiken Nurseries, it was produced bimonthly from November 15, 1943 through October 30, 1945. The paper was filled with local news, news about service men and women, editorial comment, poems, humor, and letters written “home” to the Center from soldiers on active duty. Copies were mailed free of charge to all Putney residents in the service. Now a historical treasure in the archives, the venture was paid for by many local businesses of the era that faithfully purchased advertising on the back page of each issue.
M. P. Sherwood, The Putney Center Reporter’s first editor wrote the following in the first issue: “Not many communities are as fortunate as Putney is in having an equipped and staffed recreational building like the Center. Newcomers to the village, like some of us, are constantly impressed with the limitless advantages of such a gathering place. The children of Putney need never grow up socially maladjusted. All of the elements that are necessary for the development of the individual personality are to be found at the Center.”
In the later forties and fifties, local businessman Dwight Smith, a member of the Board of Directors from its beginnings until his death in 1960, kept people informed of activities at the center in his frequent newsletters. Childless himself, PCC gave him an opportunity to help raise a village full of children he loved.
Dances and after school activities for teens continued through the seventies and for a time were affiliated with the YMCA in Bellows Falls. In its first 50 years, at least 3 generations of Putney’s children grew up knowing the familiar old building as an extension of their home. It was a place to have fun and to learn – without necessarily being aware that you were learning.
Sadly, however, by the end of the 70’s, declining usage and a deteriorating building let to a less vibrant period for the Center.
In 1994, a group called Putney Community Group consisting of representatives from five non-profit organizations – Putney Community Center, Putney Day Care Center, Putney Family Services, Putney Cares, and Putney Recreation League – met with the Putney Central School Board to share concerns, needs and wants for the town as a whole. A list of questions was devised and carefully answered by each group. The Community Center’s Board of Directors (at the time Linda Brooks, Anita Coomes, Ian Eddy, Kate Hudson, Tammy Severance and Connie St. John) then began the effort to see what could be done to renovate the Community Center so that it could once again return to play a pivotal recreational role for the Town.
Fundraising efforts were undertaken, sleeves were rolled up, and the work began. In April, 1998, an Open House was held to show off the tremendous improvements that had thus far been accomplished, and to dedicate the newly constructed office space and bathrooms as “The Ellis Wing” in honor of the long time work and devotion of Ken and Shirley Ellis. The Town of Putney continues to give its support by paying to heat the building, and the Community Center is once again home to a wide range of uses and events which currently include: The Village Nursery School, monthly dances for 6th – 9th graders (September through May/June), Boy Scout/Cub Scout meetings, Tai Chi classes, children’s performances, weddings, memorial gatherings, concerts, dances, indoor games, community rummage sales, plays and play rehearsals, meetings, dog training classes, sewing circles, and variety shows.