Ed Cowley, an artist who shaped Altamont, died in 2014. His eldest son, also named Ed Cowley, has laboriously gone through his father’s papers and recently unearthed this essay, from the mid-1960s, on how a small band of citizens saved the historic Altamont train station, now home to the village’s library.

We consider it a happy coincidence that our editorial this week speaks to some of the very same values that Ed Cowley outlined over a half-century ago.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer, editor

Most experienced art teachers have been both witness and participant in the persistent struggle to establish what it is that teachers and art itself can do in a community.

Placing paintings in store windows, fussing with seasonal decorations and such things seems so contrived and temporary that it almost clinches the argument that art, in the two-dimensional sense, cannot become a beneficial, or even plausible, part of the community.

Fortunately, the values of art are broad, and it is values of this sort that I would recount at this time.
It began in 1964 when the Delaware and Hudson discontinued passenger service along the Altamont tracks. Shortly thereafter, the station was for sale.

The station was built in 1887 and the village incorporated three years later. The train to and
through Altamont was the main cause for the actual site of the village. The station was built in the golden age of railroading and it recalls the confidence and pride of a great American transport system.

Its height and scale dominate the center of the village. The adjacent village green makes the location all the more impressive.

Perhaps the most unusual feature of Altamont is the fact that most of the buildings date back to the turn of the century. They are alike in the use of wood and generous scale. They have also been painted white, which makes for a very coherent appearance, a rare distinction in our time.

The station is an important feature of this environment. A group of residents felt the building should be preserved and set aside for public use. They formed an association to insure that this would happen.
The association was conceived with broad community purpose in mind, but the issue of the station was singular and specific. After a series of meetings with railroad .and village officials, the association suggested that the village acquire the property as the official village hall and community center.

The railroad reduced the price to one-third of its market value. Many of the residents, however, thought a village hall a luxury not to be afforded. The issue was taken to the taxpayers and resulted in a tie, 89 votes in favor, 89 opposed! The village board voted 3-2 against purchasing the building.

The station had become a symbol and to abandon it would seem an act of desertion. The interest that had been aroused was considerable. The publicity given the issue in area newspapers was extensive and favorable. The association became legally incorporated and simultaneously moved to purchase the property.

The money was raised by $5 membership fees and $100 patron fees. Over $3,000 was gathered. A local resident offered to hold the mortgage.

The building was purchased and committees were formed to undertake the responsibilities of ownership. One group was charged with the restoration of the building and another with the program. This required close cooperation as the program often determined the steps of restoration.

The greatest expense was a new heating system. It was also necessary to make extensive changes in the electrical arrangement. Aside from the modernization of these services, all the work was done by volunteers who were usually members of the association.

The slate roof was repaired, the exterior was washed and covered with a priming coat. The interior was redesigned, walls moved and rebuilt in more favorable locations for the new functions.

New plumbing was installed. All the walls were scrubbed, repaired where needed, and covered with two or three layers of paint. The floor was sanded and coated with satin varnish. The old ticket windows were moved to one corner, giving open space to the center.

A projection platform was built and an 8-by-10-foot movie screen installed. A piano was donated, also a kitchen range. A soft-drink machine was put in, and even a telephone. A room for small meetings was built where the coal had been stored. This room became a special attraction when wall-to-wall carpeting and a handsome cut-glass chandelier were added.

All of these additions occurred gradually and each made the station more serviceable. The building is now a community center presenting the kinds of events in which the residents can realize both pride and enjoyment. It supplements other facilities in providing broader scope for community activities.

One outstanding feature of the program is the ballet class. Three classes are given, two for children and one for adults. In addition to the class activity, there has been a ballet demonstration, a class recital and a benefit performance given by the Schenectady Ballet Company, a special event which took place in the auditorium of the local centralized high school.

Twice a month, the teenagers use the station for evenings of song and dance. Recently another age group, the Senior Citizens, organized and are holding meetings.

Tentative plans are being made for a play school on weekday mornings next year. Square dancing occupies a night each week. Special lectures have filled the station with people to hear speakers on such topics as James Joyce, the spy thriller novel, existentialism, political cartooning, music criticism, architecture, and the art of the film.

A Gay Nineties dance, folk singers, a barbershop quartet, and even a long railroad balladeer
have been part of the entertainment. Twice the association moved out of the station to sponsor a tour of area homes of architectural or historical significance.

A bake sale and a month-long historical exhibit contributed to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the incorporation of the village. The bake sale featured recipes which went back to the nineties, and the historical exhibit was made up of articles of all types loaned by local residents.

The intention has been to sponsor events which bring in money as well as contribute to community life. Two particularly successful activities were a plant auction (of items donated to the cause) and a summer art class in stained-glass design. No activities have been held which were not consistent with the purpose of the association.

A landscaping committee has prepared a series of recommendations that will gradually be carried through. This includes shrubs, a low retaining wall to match the white brick of the building, and other plans — for more grass, outdoor sitting areas, and more sensible parking.

To celebrate the completion of the interior, a spaghetti dinner with red wine and candlelight, was held in November 1965. At this event, the Albany League of Arts presented the association with a substantial cash award in recognition of its achievements.

My own interest in the building began years ago when I made paintings of the station (never thinking at the time that I would perform a complete act of realism in actually painting the building itself).

In May of 1966, the station presented its first art exhibit, and by chance, included many of the paintings which originally helped to stimulate interest in the building itself.

As the ideas for the restoration progressed, some of the attitudes and enthusiasm spread into the community, and consequently we have new handmade signs at each entrance of the village, and a new Village News Bulletin Board.

The park has grown in importance, some of the key buildings facing it have been painted and improved; there is a more obvious awareness of what people are doing to their homes and to the community.

We are frequently characterized as a nation of plumbers, and the notion of how things look or what our environment might be like is often the last problem to be considered; very few communities ever get around to doing anything about it.

The goal set in Altamont is a continuing search for the values that have dignity and imagination. There is a subtle educational system that operates in such a situation. Many people are involved and they learn, not as a captive audience but as contributing members.

Discouraging things have happened, such as the occasional bastardization of good buildings
with cheap and imitation materials. Some people, as yet, seem incapable of understanding the uniqueness of coherent architecture. A certain number apparently exist only to enjoy the advantages of their “rights,” without any recognition of community responsibility beyond the payment of taxes.

It had never occurred to me that I would become engaged in this kind of benevolent civic effort, but years of looking at these buildings convinced me that chance alone would not preserve their fine quality.

If anything esthetically worthwhile is to occur in towns and villages, it will only be the result of hard work liberally supported with imagination — which, by the way, is pretty much what art is all about.

Even though it is often a difficult task, it should, however, be realized that the struggle itself is often lively and entertaining. This is not a condition of culture being forced from the outside, but rather an effort to discover our heritage and its possibilities, and then to actually impress it on ourselves.

We are pleased that the Train Station has been put to a worthwhile use, and it is gratifying to see people take more pride in a community; it is a great satisfaction to be one of these people.