Monkton Museum and Historical Society (MM&HS) is exploring different options for the preservation of the old town hall building. MM&HS is currently working with the Preservation Trust of Vermont to acquire grants for the preservation of the 1859 Town Hall. We have received an initial grant to get a formal assessment of the building which will hopefully lead us to many more grants.
The Town Hall was originally built in 1859 by residents of Monkton Ridge and donated to the Town when it outgrew the town hall in the Monkton Borough. The Monkton Ridge building is on the National Register of Places. We think the building would be ideal for a Monkton Museum!
This survey is our attempt to assess whether the Monkton community has the interest and willingness to join in this venture to have a Monkton Museum. Please add your voice to the survey.
Responses to the survey supported preservation, but were concerned about maintenance costs. The study group researched the annual budget to maintain the building and explored grant options. Grants to purchase a building were nonexistent. Two community meetings were held to share those findings. Ultimately, the MM&HS voted that it would be too much of a burden for our nonprofit to fund a purchase. Petition signatures were presented to the Selectboard to request a delay of the impending sale of the building on the open market and the request was granted. We are currently working to acquire ARPA town funding to procure the 1859 Town Hall as a museum and community center.
The March 1, 2020 Monkton local election ballot issue 8 was “Shall the Selectboard delay the sale of the 1859 Town hall building until 9/1/2022 in order to give the Monkton Museum and Historical Society or other community group time to generate an acceptable proposal to take on responsibility for the building?” The measure passed with 308 yes votes and 58 no votes.
Hello everyone,
My thought on this purchase should be to let the Monkton history and historical society purchase the building for the appraisal price of $51,300.
Having the town give the society 100 years at 3% interest to paid the town back the money for the purchase. The history society can do a fundraiser each year for the payment. (The town financing the loan).
Monkton history Society letting same groups rent the building to pay for the cost to run the building. You can make it a meeting house for a small fee, to have your coffee shop to visit. For local and their family and friends, yoga , excercise classes etc. I could keep going but this would be to long.
Attached is the Old Monkton Town Hall: Historic Architectural Assessment performed August 8th, 2022.
Attached is the minutes of the 1859 Town Hall Community Discussion held on August 18, 2022,