VOORHEESVILLE — The big brick building in the center of the village may soon be home to something other than American Legion Post #1493.

The early 20th-Century three-story building at 31 Voorheesville Ave, assessed at $381,200 this year, might be sold, said John McClintock, the adjutant for the post. He wouldn’t say who might be buying the building, though.
"It’s too big a building for our needs today," he said, citing declining membership as the primary reason. The post had 340 to 360 members at one point; today it’s closer to 210, he said, "and declining all the time."
National membership in the legion is 2.7 million, said Joe March, a spokesperson at the national headquarters. "We’ve been right around that mark for the last decade," he said. "From the national perspective, things are stable."
Although the enrollment numbers are staying about the same, members move, said March. World War II veterans and Korean War veterans, who have reached retirement age, often move to the Sun Belt, he said. "A lot of the rural posts are shutting down," he said.

Anytime a post closes down, a new one will open somewhere else in the state, according to a resolution that the American Legion just passed, March said. He added that a post doesn’t have to have a building, many of them meet at local coffee shops or diners.

Voorheesville’s post hasn’t made any decisions yet, said Chaplain Charles Renker Jr., but the members are weighing their options. Selling the building but maintaining a lease on the cellar, where there is a bar and lounge, is one possibility and selling the building and buying land elsewhere to build on is another, he said.

Heating the hundred-year-old, three-story building and maintaining the slate roof are expenses that McClintock mentioned as problematic for the post.
"The heat and electricity for that building is killing us," said Renker. "It’s just walloping us."

Fund-raisers and membership dues make up the budget for the post, McClintock said, and, although there are plenty of people who are eligible to join, they aren’t joining.
"The younger people don’t want to join and all our guys from World War II are dying off," said Renker, woefully. He added that the post will be holding an open house on Nov. 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. to attract new members.
"We don’t have any firm leads, just a couple of offers," McClintock stressed. "Nothing is set in stone."