Groton Community Building
by Debra Tinkham
Groton voted at the 1947 town meeting "to assist in the building of a Community Building". At that time community and school sports and other functions were held in the old Morrison Hall pictured below. This building still stands today on the banks of the Wells River, left of Powder Spring Rd just before the bridge. There wasn't much extra room for basketball games in those days. Spectators crowded the stage and out-of-bounds was the walls. Locals remember one exuberant game where a player on the opposing team actually fell out the second story window during play and landed in the snow bank below. Luckily the snow was exceptionally deep that year and made for a cushioned and somewhat chilling exit.
A Community Building Committee was formed and funds were raised for the project. In 1948 the town borrowed money to add to those funds and took over supervision of the construction project. Deane Page was a senior at Groton Academy then and enrolled in the Agriculture Program. The "Aggie Boys" were signed on as volunteers and they ended up learning a bit more about construction that year than about milk production. Teaching had a different set of trials and tribulations in 1948. Deane remembers their teacher Edward Eaton working right along beside them wheelbarrowing big loads of dirt. Once he tripped and went flying head first into the cellar hole. He crawled from the hole a bit worse-for-wear but essentially uninjured and laughed along with his students on the comical nature of the event.
In 1949 the Groton senior class played their first basketball games in the new gym. Groton was the envy of surrounding towns. Even today we are fortunate to have such a large, versatile space for community activities. BMU still uses the hall for some of their basketball practices.
Recollections of Hot Lunches at the Groton School
When the lunch bell would ring in the Groton School, where the fire station is now located, we would line up to leave the school and cross to the Community Building downstairs kitchen. The scenario always seemed to be the same, at first we formed our lines and filed sedately toward the downstairs kitchen. However, the closer we got to the kitchen, the faster we went until there was a full-bodied charge when we hit the stairs. Every day the teachers would yell "Walk! Walk!" but they couldn’t stop an avalanche once it had begun. A
hungry hoard of kids smelling freshly baked rolls was an unstoppable force. We ate the best hot lunches ever with such classics as Salmon Pea Wiggle. The delicious "commodity" butter for those hot rolls would be considered gourmet today but back then it was set on t
he table in one pound blocks and let me tell you we dug in with considerable gusto. My thanks go out to all those women that brought home cooked meals to our lunch room.
Besides school activities the community building has hosted senior meals, dances, plays, donkey basketball, pre-school and a plethora of demonstrations, contests and fund raisers.
To the right is a picture of the 1955 junior prom with its crepe paper decorations and wishing well.
Fall Foliage at the Community Building
For 50 years the community building has been the venue for what Yankee magazine has called "the best small town chicken pie supper in the world". Groton volunteers have served over 50,000 people and cooked approximately 6000 chickens and 3000 pies. In years past there was always the Lumberjack Ball after the Chicken Pie Supper. A live band would strike up a lively polka and that hall would start hopping. I remember watching Dolly and Allen Gandin and Buzzy and Bettie Eastman glide over that floor like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers . Wanda Peters taught me the polka and I'd back her in any Polka contest today.
Today, proceeds from the Chicken Pie suppers are responsible for such things as the swim program, library programs, scholarship to every graduating Groton student going on to a higher training, the fall foliage parade and tubs of flowers around town. This is truly an amazing line up of activities funded by the Community Club and held in the Community Building. (We are looking for pictures of early fall foliage day activities so if you have any we could copy please contact the town clerk.)
Today, the Community Building is utilized by various organizations such as the Boy Scouts, TOPS, Community Club, VFW, the Buckaroos and Modern Woodsmen as well as instruction in Tae Kwon Do and aerobics. Teams have been organized by local citizens for the fun and sport of playing volleyball or basketball in the gym. Weddings and receptions of various types use the space as well. We take for granted this vital space used for gathering people together to vote, have town meetings and other political gatherings.
Groton has reaped great benefit from this community building. It truly serves as the town's heart bringing people to elections, weddings and fun. However in its 57th year it is sadly in need of some serious care. The kitchen needs the most immediate attention. This year the town is looking into purchasing a new/used commercial stove to replace the old one that had served well in its time but is currently spouting flame like an angry dragon. Repairing it was going to cost almost the same as a new one. It also needs a commercial sink. Anyone who has washed dishes during chicken pie suppers clearly understands this need.
Next we hope to paint the kitchen and perhaps build cupboards to hold the food shelf donations. The floor floods each heavy rain so we hope to build a raised floor that children and seniors can use without risking life and limb from stumbling over its uneven surface.
Groton needs some 21st century "Aggie Boys". We are currently organizing a Community Renovation Committee and hope to schedule an old fashioned community work day soon. Essentially banding together to get something done without raising taxes is what living in a small town is all about. If anyone is interested in being part of a newly forming Community Building Committee or wish to make a donation please contact the town clerk or email debratinkham@yahoo.com
