Old Caroline Town Hall receives rehabilitation grant

The Old Caroline Town Hall in Slaterville Springs will soon receive an upgrade to preserve its historic character. An 1868 building that is on the National Register of Historic Places, town officials hope their efforts to rehabilitate the building will ensure that it remains integral to the community for generations to come.

“We have been planning this, actually, for a little while now,” said Mark Witmer, Caroline Town supervisor, of the project.

The building was a schoolhouse for many decades, then a Masonic Lodge and later a community center before it was converted to the town hall in 1976. Currently the Town of Caroline holds meetings there, town court is held there as well, and the Caroline Historical Society occupies the top floor.

For the last couple of years local officials have been working with a local architect with experience in historic building restoration to assess the Old Town Hall.

“We had the building evaluated pretty comprehensively,” Witmer said.

In early 2023 the Caroline Town Board engaged Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Ithaca, for her assistance in submitting a grant application to help fund some of the work.

“She was very experienced in this and super helpful,” Witmer said. And the town ended up winning the grant.

“We were delighted,” Witmer said.

The matching grant of $375,000 was awarded by the New York State Regional Economic Development Council.

“These initiatives plant new seeds for growth, helping communities across New York State realize new potential whether that means attracting new visitors, solidifying important landmarks or new investment,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “The Regional Economic Development Councils are committed to growth, restoration and economic viability.”

“It’s thrilling to have preservation needs recognized and rewarded,” Holland said in a recent Historic Ithaca newsletter. “Many thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul, the New York State Legislature, NYS REDC [Regional Economic Development Councils] and its leaders, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.”

“They’re beautiful historic structures, these buildings, and everyone appreciates that and really loves that and wants to preserve it,” Witmer said. “We had Molly Adams who worked hard to get the building on the National Register, and I think that sort of represents our commitment to keeping this structure alive.”

The rehabilitation will include painting the exterior and preserving the original details of the wood, Witmer said.

“Under the eves there are basically these little sort of sculpted wood pieces that are in regular intervals down the side of the eve, all the way down, and they are kind of ornate…some of that kind of architecture has gone away. It’s always possible that we may try to restore some of that,” Witmer said.

He added that it is likely the front doors will be restored to a more historically accurate entryway, with the possibility of moving the ramp that is currently on the front door to the side door.

“The original doors had glass panes in the upper half,” Witmer said. “They were very attractive doors.”

Town Historian Barbara Kone, 78, who grew up in Caroline and was appointed historian in 1986. Both her grandmother and her step-grandmother went to school in the building when it was a two-room schoolhouse, and they were in the same class. They both graduated with teaching certificates, Kone said.

Kone attended school in a different small schoolhouse located nearby, just before Caroline was consolidated with the Ithaca School District in 1957.

“They taught first graders to print, and 14, 15 and 16-year-olds geometry and earth science and everything in between,” Kone said. “They learned Shakespeare, history, geography, science.” 

“I was a bookworm,” Kone recalled. “I would teach the little kids to read when I was in fourth grade.”

“There were about 30 students, six grades, and one teacher,” she added. “The teacher was very strict. She had to be! She was outnumbered 30 to one.”

There is great interest among the Caroline community in keeping these memories alive with the preservation of the town hall, Witmer said, adding that he looks forward to seeing the work on the building progress.

“I think there is a really strong commitment in the town to preserve the historic character,” Witmer said, “and a really active history group in the town that is really engaged and excited about the history.”