They came in waves, from 20 to twice that in each wave, all through the morning of Friday, December 9, for a visit to Andover’s Old Town Hall located at 157 Main Street, just minutes from their classrooms at the Andover Elementary/Middle School (AE/MS). Altogether, the visitors, students in grades one through eight, numbered about 215, with members of each grade visiting separately along with their teachers.

The purpose of their visit was to gather their thoughts and ideas about what kinds of community activities could best be supported in a to-be-re-purposed structure with 4,000 square feet of interior space.

The building was built in 1879 and served as town hall (or “town house,” as it was often called) until the early 1960s, when it passed into private hands. It was purchased last November at a foreclosure auction by a group of eight Andover residents, with the hope of returning it to a community resource.

After touring the vacant building, the AE/MS students were asked to record their ideas in written words and pictures, and share them with the building’s new owners. Here’s a small sampling of what they came up with:

In the creepy room you should make a baby football place. In the big room you should make a baby basketball place and then you should take the walls off. ( 1st Grade)

I think it should be an orphanage with a nice owner for kids who lost their parents. Like the biggest room upstairs should be the place were all of the beds should be. And the first room could be a mud room. (2nd Grade)

To make like a place where adults like to hang out and do work and be like a bed and breakfast, lunch, dinner and motel for people. And the 3 floor a day care/nursery. And make the second floor wider so then put a swimming pool on the second floor. (3rd Grade )

I think that the top should be a sanctuary for injured animals or ones that their parents were killed. The attic could be used for a food supply. You should also put if they are friendly or not. (3rd Grade)

My idea is on the third floor to make a little place for kids to play in the back corner and in the middle of the room a place for grownups to eat. (3rd Grade)

In the old dance studio you should put a stage in a corner and half of the room should be where people sit to watch the play. In the attic there should a social room for the older people. Like in half of the room should be a library and a corner of the room should be a table with food and a coffee maker and in the little room could be an elevator for people in wheel chairs. (4th Grade)

I was thinking of having it as a family night: there would be a night in the week that all of the family that want to go can go. In the little rooms could be different activities to do. There could be a kitchen and people could volunteer to bring food. In the dance room that could be where you could have dance or ballet, gymnastics and school dances. The very top could be the storage room more like the attic. (4th Grade)

The upstairs could be a place where old people could come to get coffee and donuts and sit down with their grandchildren to read to them. (4th Grade)

I think we should turn this building into a health clinic. (5th Grade)

My idea is a vet that will take care of animals and upstairs could be a really little pet store. It could help everyone so it’s like 5 mins away instead of an hour or so. (5th Grade)

You should make it a place where you can go to rent/buy a book with a place to read and an option to drink tea or coffee. I think it would look great if it would be themed after a place in the olden days. (6th Grade)

I think we should make it into a bed and breakfast where people can come and eat and maybe there would be a game room in the back. Andover doesn’t have a hotel or anything, not that it gets hundreds of tourists but maybe it would persuade people to stay in the town longer and enjoy themselves. (7th Grade)

My idea is that we should use it as a recovery place for homeless people. So that as they live there they are able to be helped with getting jobs and possible able to be helped with finding homes of their own. (7th Grade)

This building will help people get out and do something not sit home and watch TV. (7th Grade)

Open rooms on sides of main floor hallway keep hallway walls but knock out the walls separating the offices in order to make two long open rooms. (8th grade)

And these are just a small sampling. Altogether, the new owners tabulated some 231 different specific suggestions for use of the space. Some of the most creative included:

Acting school

Art Camp/studio/store

Bar

Beanbag room

Bike park

Bouncy castle

Butterfly room

Chocolate factory

Disco hall

Fashion house

Grown-up talk space

Hot tub

Indoor drone-racing area

Lego club

Mall

Music studio

Popcorn factory

Sky zone (trampoline room)

Superheroes headquarters

Veterans home

Zoo

AE/MS teachers also offered their own suggestions, several of which stressed opportunities for inter-generational activities such as space for family game and movie nights, a “maker space” for all sorts of creative activities, community classrooms, and the like.

Commenting on the day’s activities, AE/MS principal Jane Slayton, who proposed the student visitations, summarized: “The event succeeded in providing a wonderful opportunity for all our students to ‘think outside the box’ – not just about new ways to have fun but also about new ways to build a stronger sense of local community. We’re grateful to the new owners for providing this stimulus for thought and discussion.”

After collating all the input, Andover’s Gisela Darling, one of the building’s new owners, observed: “These responses have given us a wealth of new ideas from a segment of our community that, we hope, will make productive use of the space.”