GRANBY — In preparation for the town’s 250th Anniversary celebration, a historic building on the Town Common recently got a fresh side of paint thanks to members of the Granby Preservation Society.
The nonprofit organization wants to restore Kellogg Hall, at 250 East State St., to its former glory to serve as a cultural hub in the center of town and “living history” that celebrates Granby’s small town pride.
“Certainly we want to have this hall to be a proud part of Granby’s future,” said Gary Phelps, president of the Granby Preservation Society. “If we don’t preserve what we have in the past, our children won’t understand there was anything prior to their birth.”
The anniversary celebration will take place during Charter Days June 8-10.
In its 130-year history, Kellogg Hall has served as a meeting space, library, schoolhouse, Town Hall, police station and function hall. The Granby Preservation Society’s main office is now housed in the building, and if all goes according to plan, more businesses and organizations will occupy the space too.
“Our mission is to preserve this building and hopefully, as the Granby Preservation Society becomes a permanent part of the town’s culture, we can help people who own other historic homes with preservation and restoration of historic homes,” Phelps said.
The preservation society, created shortly after the building became vacant in 2013, bought Kellogg Hall for the purpose of restoring the historic building and preserving the cultural fabric of the community. With a new boiler donated by the Nestec Corporation (thanks to a Granby native), the hall is now better heated during winter months, providing more protection against the elements and a way to ensure the building’s longevity.
“The idea was if we didn’t take it over and plan to restore it, then it eventually would be destroyed just by being there,” Phelps said. “That’s why we pulled together and hired a structural engineer.”
Originally, an engineer hired by the town said Kellogg Hall was beyond repair, but the preservation society had a different idea. In March 2013, Town Meeting voted to allow the Select Board to sell the building for $1 to the organization that promised to restore the building.
The near 100-member organization is committed to a historically authentic restoration, which may require knocking down some interior walls.
“This is a long-term operation,” said the 75-year-old Phelps. “Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever see it finished in my lifetime.”
So far, it has cost the society about $30,000 to paint just the front face of the building, most of the cost due to the painstaking process of safely removing the lead paint from the exterior. The rest of the painting should cost around $40,000, Phelps estimated. Then the process of interior renovations can begin.
“Our real focus was to get the front of this building painted for the sestercentennial, just so it would look nice for that celebration,” Phelps said. “Beyond that we are certainly anxious to finish this because this will be what protects the building as we restore the interior.”
With grandiose features like a spiral staircase and full-size stage on the second floor, the building has many original features that members of the Preservation Society are eager to keep intact. A bell tower remains, though the bell is being kept in storage by the town. Phelps said they had wanted the bell reinstalled to ring during the 250th Anniversary celebration.
The Preservation Society is organizing 13 fundraisers this year in the form of tag sales, a golf tournament, a gift-wrapping service, car shows and a monthlong raffle in July to fund the ongoing restoration. They will sell raffle tickets and other Kellogg Hall-themed merchandise during the Charter Days celebration.
George Randall, a local historian and member of the town’s 250th Anniversary planning committee, said he remembers attending kindergarten in the basement of Kellogg Hall, and watching movies hosted by the Lions Club in the function hall upstairs.
“It’s a focal point that people see when they drive through the center of our town,” Randall said. “That building stands above the common and the center of our town, which has changed greatly within the last 45 or 50 years, and it’s going to change again.”
Phelps explained that in the late 1880s, Chester Kellogg, a cousin of the cereal manufacturer, donated $3,000 to build a multi-purpose meetinghouse and school in the center of town. After Town Meeting agreed to appropriate an additional $2,500 for the project, construction was completed in 1890.
Phelps will be participating in the 250th parade dressed as Chester Kellogg, with a period hat and vest to fit the role.
“People have to understand that thanks to benefactors like Chester Kellogg and all these folks who in the past have spent their life here, they made the town run — kept the town running,” Phelps said.
Granby’s town charter was signed on June 11, 1768. To celebrate the 250-year milestone, a committee of volunteers organized a weekend of festivities June 8-10 throughout town. Randall said the committee has been meeting for the last four years to plan the festivities, which include the beard contest on Saturday and a parade on Sunday that ends in Dufresne Park where there will be food, live music and vendors.
“These folks have worked so hard to make this a reality,” Randall said. “I’ve had people tell me, George, you’re living in the past. Well, maybe I am.”
For the last three years, Kellogg Hall has played host to seasonal events like the September Dino Festival, October haunted house, and the November tree festival. For the June 10 parade, a “snack shack” will be set up outside the hall for passersby to enjoy a treat and watch the procession.
“Historians are dreamers,” Phelps said. “Some people call me a dreamer, and I’ve been called worse things.”
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.