Government in Guilderland evolved and expanded along with its Town Hall
— Photo from the Guilderland Historical Society
The multi-purpose town hall in Guilderland Center, pictured before its demolition in 1952, served as a stable for visitors to the Fowler Inn across the street, now Route 146, and housed early fire trucks. Upstairs was a meeting hall for town and school functions as well as firemen’s dances and social events. The last big political caucus was held there in 1934.
— Photo from the Guilderland Historical Society
The first two-room schoolhouse in Guilderland was built of wood in 1845 on Willow Street for School District 4. After the school district centralized, it became the town hall in 1957 and remained as such until a new town hall was built in 1971 on the Western Turnpike west of route 146. The old schoolhouse is now home to New York State Troopers.
— Photo from the Guilderland Historical Society
The multi-purpose town hall in Guilderland Center, pictured before its demolition in 1952, served as a stable for visitors to the Fowler Inn across the street, now Route 146, and housed early fire trucks. Upstairs was a meeting hall for town and school functions as well as firemen’s dances and social events. The last big political caucus was held there in 1934.
— Photo from the Guilderland Historical Society
The Village Queen, as the apparatus on the left was called, is proudly displayed with an early fire truck in Guilderland Center where they were housed on Main Street, now called Route 146, from 1918 until the new firehouse was built on School road in 1952.
It always surprises this historian when youngsters come to the Guilderland Town Hall, usually with a parent, and they have no idea what goes on there, what its purpose is, or how it affects their own family.
This brought to mind the actual history of the town hall and how those purposes changed through the years.
The first town meeting was held at the private home of Henry Appel in Guilderland Center on the fifth day of April in the year of 1803. The town of Guilderland had just been separated from the town of Watervliet and incorporated.
Guilderland Center has always been considered the center of town. In 1803, officials were elected and laws were written to be observed in Guilderland.
Nicholas Mynderse was elected as supervisor of the town and Peter A. Veeder was named town clerk. Assessors were Issac Van Aernum, Abraham Veeder, and Peter Relyea. Commissioners of highways were David Ogsbury, Frederic Crounse, and Charles Saver. Jacob Van Arnum and Simeon Relyea were overseers of the poor.
After meetings were held at the Appel Inn for years, other officials offered their homes for that purpose. Then, in 1850, a new structure was built in Guilderland Center on the road now named Route 146.
There is no record of who built the hall. Records do state that the building and land were deeded to the town of Guilderland on Oct. 1, 1915 by Philip and Helen Petinger.
The large room upstairs was used for public meetings and political caucuses and for school events. A fire truck was housed downstairs. The main floor was also used to stable horses for the guests who came to stay at the Fowler Hotel across the road.
The Guilderland Center Fire Department used the lower floor from 1918 when John H. York was named the first fire chief. In 1952, it was determined that the old town hall was no longer suitable, and a new fire station was erected on School Road.
The town used the Guilderland Center building to store equipment until the structure was condemned.
As the eastern end of the town grew, several individual buildings were used for the town's different departments. The assessor's office was noted to have been in a small building on Route 20 near Foundry Road. That building has been demolished.
In 1957, the District Schoolhouse 4 on Willow Street became the town hall. The Guilderland School District had abandoned the two-room school house in 1953 when it consolidated and erected new school buildings. The old schoolhouse is now a barracks for the New York State Troopers.
In 1971, a new town hall was built on the Western Turnpike west of Carman Road. An addition was added in 1989.
By the book
At the town's first meeting in the Appel Inn, it was made law that "it shall not be lawful for hogs to run at large beyond the enclosure of the owner." Another law declared that "stallions at the age of two years and upward be not suffered to go at large beyond the enclosure of the owner>”
It was also made law that any resident killing a wolf on the turnpike would collect $5.
Historic documents and chits show that the overseers of the poor paid for shoes for the children of a widow and paid for a "cloak" in which to bury a poor resident of the town.
This historian does remember in the early 1950s, two local residents had to chase a large brown stallion, freed of his reins, down Western Turnpike from Willow Street to Fuller Road before he was captured.
Residents of that era may remember Judge George Bigsbee holding court in his Hamilton Street home, wearing his notable red suspenders that held up his blue work denims, while his large pet parrot sat on his desk, watching the proceedings.
There was no police force in Guilderland then. Law and order was kept in Guilderland by the New York State Police stationed in a Westmere barracks at 1968 Western Ave. They were assisted by the Albany County Sheriff's Department through the 1960s.
Then, on Oct. 29, 1971, in the new town hall on the western boundaries of Guilderland, a six-man police force was organized. Led by Chief Robert R. Byers and wearing crisp, new green uniforms, these men were commissioned to keep order in the town. The police station was housed in the town hall.
The duties of those who keep our peace now are far different than those from the days of keeping horses and pigs within their owners’ confines.
Local newspaper accounts and a "Blotters and Dockets" column in The Altamont Enterprise advise residents of the more serious issues that the police must deal with, and they have done so extremely well.
The town hall on the Great Western Turnpike is one of which all residents can be proud. Children and students should be taught about the importance of its purpose.