Old Town Hall meeting scheduled January 31

The Old Town Hall in Odessa has served many functions over its lifetime. On January 10, approximately 15 to 20 townspeople gathered there to discuss the building’s future. Lise Ott is heading up an effort to either repurpose, refurbish or renovate the aging structure, which suffers now from roof leaks, crumbling concrete steps, broken and cracked windows and plumbing problems.

Built in 1921, the facility opened December 21 of that year to house the offices of the town government, in addition to providing meeting space, a stage for performances and presentations and other functions. After the construction of the Odessa Community Center in the 1970s, the Town Hall or Community Hall, as it was also called, came to be referred to as the Old Town Hall.

At some point in the 1970s, we are told, a major renovation took place, with the installation of a downstairs kitchen and dining hall and the separation of the one large meeting hall into two separate rooms, followed by gradual abandonment of the upstairs rooms.

A poll of the audience showed that the building is still in frequent use by various Odessa groups, including the Primetimers senior-citizens group, the senior meals lunches, meetings of the Masonic Lodge, Lions Club, Odessa Grange, VFW, Odessa Fire Department and the Cub Scouts.

The building is the property of the Town of Odessa, which must maintain and heat the structure in order for it to be used by those groups. Given the town’s limited funds, the building over the past several years has received only the most pressing repairs and improvements. The OTH group headed by Lise Ott aims to create an organization that will be self-sustaining and that will be able to generate funding for maintenance and operation of the facility.

Several volunteers agreed to contact groups in other nearby towns to see how they have dealt with historic buildings, the Harrington Opera House Society being one of the closest and most active of late, along with the old Hartline school building. While those groups were being contacted, Ott said she would proceed with establishing 501-3(c) non-profit status, selecting a board of directors, drawing up by-laws, creating a financial structure and beginning work on grant applications.

In 2021, the building will be 100 years old, and Ott says she has dreams of being able to celebrate that milestone in a wonderfully updated and restored structure. Fundraising has already begun, in fact, with the donation of $200 from the daughters of Wally Weishaar, the result of Wally’s posthumous win of a friendly bet with Jerry Schafer on the outcome of the November 2012 presidential election. Odessa Mayor Doug Plinski turned the funds over to Ott at the meeting.

Initial steps agreed upon by those assembled were to gather the requested information from other towns, think about what priorities to address first and then meet again on Thursday, January 31, at the Old Town Hall, of course, to start putting ideas to paper. The community at large is invited to attend and contribute their ideas to the endeavor. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.