The November open houses at the old Andover town hall elicited many longtime residents’ memories of the days in which the 1879 Town Hall was a hub of community activity. A Facebook posting about the recent purchase drew more memories, including this one from Ellen Johnson Pine, who moved from Andover to Georgia 18 years ago.

“That town hall holds so many memories for me. Before the school gym was built, I remember going to basketball games there.

“And one year I remember some sort of Veterans Day celebration there, where all the school kids presented posters and art in commemoration of that day. I was perhaps in fourth grade and had to recite the poem In Flanders Fields and was petrified.

“But my most memorable time was taking ballet and tap dance lessons from the wife of a gentleman who was a New Hampshire state trooper…. I was only five or six at that time, and the inside of the building looked so big!

“So many memories … and wondering as a child why the number 7 in the date at the top of the building looked like a 2 instead of a 7.

“I write all this to say ‘Thank you!’ to the investors who stepped forward to purchase this property. It is one of Andover’s wonderful historic buildings that is now being given a do-over for other uses that will once again help to bring community together. ”

The next reminiscence is excerpted from a memoir by Andover resident Helen Phelps (1887-1970), now in the possession of the Andover Historical Society. The reference in the first sentence indicates it was written in the early 1960s.  Note the use of “town house,” which was commonly used to refer to the structure.

“Now that the Andover town house has been sold, the older generation as well as the younger recall the many happy hours spent under its roof.

“In its early days, it was painted much the color of the old Boston and Maine railway stations [as the Potter Place train station is today]. Blinds added much to its appearance. On all sides a stone wall followed the town property.

“In summer the grass was green around it, and in winter the heavy snow roller made a path to its door. A picket fence set it apart from the main road.

“Hitching post and rails were at both sides of the building. Kerosene street lamps, I believe two in number, and a reflector lantern at the door, helped to dispel the darkness.

“Years later electricity took over, and these were done away with, likewise the chandelier bracket lamps, footlights on the stage, and those suspended above it. In the olden day, should there be an occasion for dim lighting, it was necessary to lower the wicks.

“At the left of the entrance was our ante-room.  Here, behind closed doors, no doubt much political scheming and planning has taken place. Often it served as ticket office and checking room for wraps. The selectman’s room was at the right.

“There were two large pot-bellied stoves at the rear of the hall, looking like they grew out of sand boxes, and reaching out from them many feet of black stove pipe finding its way to the chimney.

“The sand around the stoves was for the convenience of those who preferred to chew their tobacco rather than smoke it and a safe place to deposit half-burned matches and cigar butts; cigarettes were not plentiful in those days.

“Stationary to the east wall and a little more than waist high, looking much like a row of doorless cupboards, was the voting place, where ballots were marked.  No curtains or booths concealed the voter. Only a portable railing marked off the section.”

In a 1961 newspaper article, Andover historian Ralph Chaffee described how the town hall built in 1879 came to be located on Andover Center’s Main Street – a decision that ended a longstanding tug-of-war between the residents of the Center and those living in East Andover. Chaffee’s article concludes as follows: 

“Now, 82 years after it was built, another controversy seems likely to threaten the continued existence of the town hall as such.  No argument over location this time but rather between sentiment and economy. For a new Andover High School addition with a gymnasium auditorium is a-building, with a completion date before the next town meeting.

“Sponsors of the new building program suggest the sale or abandonment of the town hall in favor of the new gym as a place for future town meetings, pointing out a large annual saving in heating and upkeep.

“On the other side stands a group of older citizens to whom the old hall, with its pleasant memories of past town meetings and social activities, represents more than just a building. Rather it has become an institution, a landmark in the history of the town that, like the few remaining covered bridges, should be preserved for posterity.

“They fear, too, that that most democratic of all forms of local government, the old-fashioned New England Town Meeting, stands to lose a little more of its distinctive color and flavor if transferred to a new modern setting.

“Only the future holds the answer.”