[MassHistPres] Town Hall privy

[PJS]

 Hi Mike,

I wrote my thesis (for a master's degree in historic preservation) on early bathrooms. It would have been very unusual for a new privy to be installed in 1932, particularly in a town hall that likely had plumbing at the time. As you mentioned, it's possible it was moved from the 1878 building into the addition. You wrote that you did some research - have you checked contemporaneous newspapers and town meeting records? If it was installed for nostalgic purposes, perhaps an article or meeting minutes would have mentioned the privy. I'd rather see the privy reinstalled in the new addition - with some interpretive signage - than in the 1878 building if you don't know where it was located originally within the building.

I hope that is helpful!

Paula Sagerman
Historic Preservation Consultant
Brattleboro, VT
     On Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 08:08:00 AM EST, augiedef--- via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:  
 
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I’m looking for any advice or suggestions regarding how the Brimfield Historical Commission might be able to address an issue with a potentially historic feature of our Town Hall. There is currently a project underway to develop plans to renovate the building and add on a new addition. As part of the project, the existing 1932 addition to the building will first be demolished because of structural issues. We accept that premise. However, that addition includes a 2-seat privy, a feature which I imagine not many Town Halls in the state share. We would like to see it kept and relocated somewhere in the renovated building, given its uniqueness. The design folks and building committee say that they can save the privy and then we can do what we want with it but they won’t include it in the renovated building because it’s not part of the original 1878 construction. Given that in 1932, indoor plumbing was becoming fairly common, I question if the privy was a new feature at that time or whether it already existed on the property and was just moved into the 1932 addition. I can’t find any plans or documentation that provide information on that 1932 addition that would help to understand its provenance.. Is this a reasonable “battle” to pursue or should we just make the assumption that it was new in 1932 and find a different location if we vote to keep it. 

  

I should also mention that this is still in the design stage and no official town vote has yet been taken to actually move forward.

  

Mike DeFalco

Brimfield Historical Commission

  
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