Long-awaited municipal building will soon be a reality

In November 2018, the Village of Groton (VOG) Board of Trustees adopted a bond resolution to put feet on its plans to construct a new building to be located at 308 Main St. The building would house the Village Offices, the Groton Police Department, the Groton Fire and Ambulance Service and a community center – all in one location. 

Nancy Niswender, clerk-treasurer and administrator for the VOG, explained that the initial idea was birthed in 2017, when plans were designed and bids went out to start the ball rolling. But when the bids came back much higher than expected, they had to “go back to the drawing board to redesign it.” 

“We went back out to bid this past spring,” Niswender said, “and the bids were much more reasonable. With the new design, the Groton Fire Department, the VOG offices, and the community room will be constructed, and the police department will be [in] a separate building at a later date.” 

Editor’s note: The print edition of this article says that the ceremony is at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 18. The correct date is Friday, Aug. 25.

Once the groundbreaking ceremony has happened, the site will be prepared so the interior work can be done over the winter months, with the hope that the entire building will be completed by summer 2024. 

“We’re very excited about the energy-efficient technology that will be incorporated into the project,” Niswender said. “It will have geothermal heating and LED lighting throughout. We look forward to providing the community with new opportunities and elevated service.” 

Village Mayor Christopher (Joe) Neville described the current situation as the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together.  

“This has been an ongoing project for the last five years, trying to get all the pieces of the puzzle together,” Neville said. “I’m looking forward to 2024, when everyone can use it. It should serve the community well for 50-plus years!” 

Lee Shurtleff, District 9 Tompkins County legislator and active member of the Groton Fire Department (GFD), was the fire chief in 1991. At that time, based on consultant recommendations, the GFD treasurer, Don Palmer, strongly recommended starting a capital reserve fund for a future building project, which they did.  

“We also hired an architect in 1997 to evaluate whether the present site of the fire and police departments could be renovated and expanded,” Shurtleff said. “The verdict was that the site was too constrained, so we began looking for a suitable site that would be central to the village and utilities with good parking, et cetera.” 

Niswender spoke about the ample parking, the spacious bays for the fire engines and ambulances, the opportunities for use of the community room and so much more.  

Eric DeForrest, GFD chief, is particularly excited that the GFD will be among the first occupants of the building.   

“I am very excited to be part of this big step in GFD history,” DeForrest said. “There are many battles we face in our current location that will no longer be an issue in our new building. As time has evolved, so have the sizes of our new fire engines. If we order new trucks, we have to order them shorter than a standard fire engine, driving the cost up for the department. Our current overhead doors do not accommodate a standard truck. We have to custom order trucks, and just like the cars and trucks we drive today, any special modifications drive the price up.”   

DeForrest also said he believes that the new building will open up many opportunities for the GFD.  

“Recruiting, community events and even our open houses will be so much easier on the membership. We are very limited on what we can do on site at the fire station currently. Our new location will allow us to train on site and invite neighboring departments to join us,” he said.   

“I couldn’t be more thrilled for the hard work that has gone into this by many of the chiefs before me, our current chiefs and the village,” DeForrest added. “I know I can speak for everyone at the GFD that we are beyond ready for this project to kick off!” 

Shurtleff, who is also the village historian, is particularly excited that the backdrop for the groundbreaking ceremony was an 1890s hose cart that was built and assembled by a joint effort of the Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Company and the Groton Carriage Works – two flourishing companies at the time. That same hose cart can be viewed in the grand parade during GOHD every year. 

“The hose cart is a refashioned carriage – symbolic of the site it will return to,” Shurtleff said. “There were several carriage and buggy manufacturers in Groton in the mid-1800s. The Conger family brought them all together and created one large firm called Groton Carriage Works. They made about 5,000 carriages a year and had several hundred employees.” 

Shurtleff further explained that both businesses were located on the site of the future municipal building.  

“Back in the 1850s, Charles Perrigo, who was the first president of the Groton Bank, and his brother, Lyman, were partners in the iron business,” Shurtleff said. “Initially, they quarried iron somewhere in Groton and had an iron works company. Bridges were built of iron back then because it was the strongest building product before steel was invented.”  

As it happened, the Perrigo brothers started an offshoot business to make iron bridge trusses. The Conger family became their main investors in the 1880s, and Frank Conger was the lead on what became the Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Company. 

“At the turn of the century, the company had 125 employees, but soon Andrew Carnegie bought it because he was busy buying up all the small bridge-building companies to steer the industry to steel bridge production,” Shurtleff said. “But Frank Conger bought it back around 1900, and it became the American Bridge Company.” 

As it happened, many of the employees of both the carriage and bridge companies were volunteer firefighters. Even back then, the overall fire department was made up of individual hose companies, just as it is today, and the firehouse was located on its current site.  

“Right around 1900, there was a terrible fire in the carriage factory,” Shurtleff said. “The firefighters were all there because they worked in one place or the other, but they had to run all the way back to the firehouse to get the equipment to bring to the fire before they could try to put it out. After that, they constructed a carriage house on [the] property to keep at least one hose cart near the volunteers.” 

The hose cart that will be present at the groundbreaking for the new building belonged to the Pioneer Hose Company, and Shurtleff explained the significance of that.  

“That carriage should have been destroyed in the fire,” Shurtleff said, “but as a joke, the Conger Hose Company had hidden it in someone’s barn. The Conger hose cart did get destroyed, but the Pioneer cart was spared. So, on the site of the worst fire Groton ever had, the new building will be built, and the Pioneer hose cart will be there!” 

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com or text or call Linda at 607-227-4922.  

In brief: 

Groton Community Cupboard  

The Groton Community Cupboard will soon move to its new location. Rumors have been circulating that it will move to the old can/recycling center at 122 Spring St. That is correct. The cupboard will be closed Sept. 3, 4 and 7 for Labor Day week – and potentially to move if the building is ready. The tentative plan is to be open on Sept. 10 and 11 at the new place, but that is very tentative. The grand reopening will be Monday, Sept. 18 at noon, and a full and accurate article on everything you will need to know will be published right here in the Sept. 13 edition of this column. 

Youth soccer needs your help! 

Youth soccer is accepting gear donations. If you have gently used cleats, shin guards or other soccer equipment you would like to donate, please bring it to the Village Office, 143 Cortland St. during summer business hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday or 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Email grotonnysoccerclub@gmail.com with any questions. 

Cortland Old Timers Band 

The Cortland Old Timers Band will be back to entertain you at the Groton American Legion Post 800 with show tunes, marches and other assorted musical gems for Groton Olde Home Days from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25.