By Sam Sedoryk, Museum Education Specialist
Today, when we think of a Town Hall, we may be quick to think of a dreary bureaucratic building. However, Windsor’s first Town Hall was the opposite of dreary. For almost two decades after officially becoming a town, Windsor residents were without a municipal building. Residents were worried about important documents and town record books being misplaced or lost to potential fires. They wanted a building where they knew everything could be conveniently located and safely secured. Windsor needed a Town Hall!
The earliest mention of construction of Windsor’s first Town Hall was in April 1909. Town Board members formed a committee known as the “Special Municipal Building Committee.” This group, along with Windsor Mayor Charles Yancey, oversaw the construction of Town Hall through the coming months. The Town Hall, referred to then as City Hall as Windsor had dreams to transform into a bustling city, was planned to be located on the north corner of Main Street and 5th Street, a location that was considered at the time to be the most feasible site in Windsor’s downtown business district.
In the summer of 1909, the committee approved building plans submitted by Oscar and Alice (A.M.) Felmlee, Windsor’s architecture duo. The design was to be a multifunctional municipal building that housed every town service possible; including a police and fire department, bank vault, and a jail. Another part of the building plan was that the Town Hall would stand alone with no other buildings attached to it so that citizens could access the building from all sides.
The building was under construction from August to December1909. When finished, it had cost $7,500 ($240,000 today). Parts of the building, like the basement, staircase, and second floor, were initially left uncomplete due to budget constraints, but were eventually completed in the following years.
Windsor’s first Town Hall served as the center of local government for seven decades until operations moved to its its current location, the Park School building, in the 1980s. The first Town Hall continues to stand tall today as the Art & Heritage Center, and has proudly served the community for 116 years and counting. As Windsor Mayor Charles Yancey remarked during its construction in 1909, it “is the grandest stone ever laid in Windsor.”