Athy Borough Council / Athy Town Commissioners

The earliest record of corporate governance of Athy is the charter granted by Henry VIII in 1515.  Granted at the request of Gerald, 7^th Earl of Kildare, the charter entitled the inhabitants of Athy to erect walls around their settlement, the cost of which was to be financed by customs collected on goods sold in Athy.  Provision was also made for the election on the 29^th of September each year of a town Provost who had overall responsibility for regulating activity within the boundaries of the Borough.  An important privilege granted by King Henry to the people of Athy was the right to hold a market “in a place deputed or ordained by Gerald, Earl of Kildare”.  To this day the market continues to be held each Tuesday in the area originally called “Market Square” but which is now known as “Emily Square”.  The “Emily”  commemorated in the name of the town’s fine public open space is Lady Emily Lennox, Duchess of Leinster and wife of the first Duke of Leinster. 

The 1515 charter may not be the first formal incorporation of the medieval settlement of Athy, but it remains, pending further research, the earliest known charter.  A further charter was granted by King James I in 1613 and this was to remain in place until the disbandment of the Borough of Athy in 1840.  The passing of the Act of Union some 40 years earlier had deprived the twelve members of Athy Corporation, who were appointed by the Duke of Leinster and held office for life, from nominating two members to represent Athy in Parliament.  For the loss of this privilege the Duke of Leinster, and not Athy Corporation, was compensated with the payment of £13,800, with a further £1,200 going to Lord Ennismore who as William Hare of Tivoli in Cork had purchased the Athy Parliamentary seats from the Duke three years previously.

With the abolition of Athy’s Borough the local people who had never before been able to participate in local government were able to elect Town Commissioners to regulate the town’s affairs.  A total of 21 Commissioners could be elected for that purpose and in 1842 the first Town Commissioners took office.  No election was required as the number of available seats equalled the numbers nominated.  Amongst those deemed elected was the local Parish Priest, Fr. John Lawler and the local Church of Ireland Rector, Rev. Frederick Trench.  Two local doctors also sat as the first Town Commissioners.  Dr. Thomas Kynsey was subsequently elected the first Chairman of the Commissioners while his colleague Dr. Thomas Ferris was also a Town Commissioner. 

One of the first acts of the new Commission was to agree valuations for properties in the town, which valuations were to be the basis of raising rates to finance its operations.  A perusal of the very first list of road works authorised by the new Town Commissioners gives an interesting insight into local placenames no longer in use today.  Tea Lane, the Turnpike, Tan Yard Lane and Higginsons Lane, are some of those place names which apart from Higginsons Lane have long passed from local memory.

At the second meeting of the new Town Commissioners it was agreed to provide a bell for the new clock donated by Lord Downes of Bert House.  The clock was installed in the Town Hall and soon thereafter the bell which had been used in St. Michael’s Church in Emily Square then under demolition was purchased by the Commissioners.  Both the clock and the bell today grace the north face of the Town Hall.  Another early decision taken by the Commissioners was the retention of the services of the town bellman at a wage of 2 guineas a year and the appointment of Thomas Sheill who was himself one of the 21 Commissioners to hold the position of Town Clerk.

It’s worthy of note that in the first ten years of its working life Athy Town Commissioners found it necessary to raise finance by way of imposing rates on only two occasions.  The first time was in 1842 when a total of £30.15.6 was levied on the town and again in 1851 when the sum of £50 was required to be collected in rates.  A large proportion of the Commissioners revenue came from payments for the weighing of farm produce at the public weighing scales in Emily Square.  The Commissioners had a weigh bridge for weighing straw and a beam scales for weighing other farm produce.  Everything sold in the market had to be weighed on the Town Commissioners scales and the weight registered on an official ticket issued by the Weighmaster.

Another source of revenue for the Town Commissioners was the monthly auction of manure which the Commissioners had the right to collect from the streets of Athy.  Road cleaning was of a most rudimentary kind and was primarily concerned with the collection of manure which was kept between auctions at Green Alley and in the Potato Market at Emily Square.  Manure collecting was carried out all year around, but during the summer months the Town Commissioners provided a watering cart which sprinkled water around the streets in order to keep down the dust.

The Commissioners were in office for six years before the issue of cleaning the streets of the town in addition to collecting manure was first considered.  The cost conscious Commissioners appointed a three man deputation to consult with the Board of Guardians who had responsibility for the recently opened local Workhouse.  Their purpose was to enquire on what terms the paupers in the Workhouse would sweep the streets of Athy from 10 o’clock each morning.  That time was chosen so as not to interfere with the ancient right of householders to gather up manure in front of their premises - an important concession at a time when gardens were cultivated on a regular basis. 

The Board of Guardians were apparently less than sympathetic to the Town Commissioners requests and in January 1849 the Town Commissioners agreed to employ two men to keep the streets clean.  The men who were provided with wheelbarrows were the first outdoor staff employed by the Commissioners but soon thereafter the range of services provided in the town developed to include the laying of sewers and the paving of streets.

The first ever election to the Town Commission was held in July 1847 when 28 candidates contested the 21 seats.  Only occupiers of property rated at £5 or upwards were entitled to vote and candidates had to be occupiers of premises rated at £20 or more.  These requirements gave a very limited franchise but at least they represented a vast improvement on the non elective system which operated prior to the abolition of the previous Borough Council. 

The poll toppers in 1847 with 105 votes each were local mill owner Henry Hannon and the Parish Priest, Fr. John Lawler.  It is interesting to note that voting took place in the Courtroom of the Town Hall, with each voter announcing in public the candidates he wished to vote for.  The secret ballot would not come until the passing of the Ballot Act of 1872.

Athy Town Commissioners 1842-1849

The last meeting of Athy Borough Corporation was held on 29th September, 1841 when the Reverend F.S. Trench of Kilmoroney was sworn in as the Town Sovereign. Within six months the Borough Corporation which had been in existence since 1515 was replaced by elected town commissioners. The new body had 21 members all of whom were elected for three year terms unlike their predecessors who as members of the Borough Corporation held office for life on the nomination of the Duke of Leinster.

The first Town Commissioners for Athy, elected just three years before the Great Famine, were :-

John Lawler, P.P. R.W. Maxwell
Thomas Ferris Thomas B. Kynsey
Rev. Frederick F.J. Trench A.G. Judge
John Peppard Mathew Lawler
Robert Molloy Henry Hannons
Thomas O’Connor Dan Grady
Thomas Peppard John D. Waters
Mark Cross Thomas Shiell
John Lord Michael Lawler
James Irving Thomas Plewman
Patrick Commins

Ferris, Kynsey and Matthew Lawler were local doctors. Rev. Trench was the local Church of Ireland Rector, while John Lawler was the Parish Priest of Athy. While Church of Ireland Ministers had sat on the former Corporation the Catholic clergy were present on the Town Council for the first time in 1842. The involvement of the Parish Priest is indicative of the prominent role played by the clergy in civic matters in the years immediately following the granting of Catholic Emancipation. Under the Lighting of Towns Act, 1828 candidates for the position of town commissioner had to be occupiers of houses rated at £20.00 or more. Only occupiers of property rated at £5 or upwards were entitled to vote at the triennial election for town commissioners. In 1842 and again in 1844 elections were unnecessary in Athy as the candidates nominated did not exceed the number of seats available on the Town Commission.

Its first Chairman was Doctor Thomas Kynsey and immediately the new Commissioners set to work with an energy unknown to the former Borough Corporation. The town bellman was retained at a wage of 2 guineas a year while Thomas Shiell, one of the newly elected commissioners, resigned on the 7th March to take up the position of Clerk to the Commissioners and Billet Master at the yearly salary of £10. An Ouncil was purchased for the weighing of hay and straw while at their second meeting on the 4th April, 1842 the Commissioners agreed to provide a bell for the new clock donated by Lord Downes for the Town Hall and to put up under the clock a marble tablet commemorating the fact.

The Town Commissioners immediately accepted a number of presentments under which public works were to be undertaken by private individuals at the expense of the Town Commissioners. Included amongst those presentments approved on 18th April, 1842 were the following :-
£. S. P.
To John O’Neill for making a pair of Scale Boards
and adjusting the Beams 2. 2. 0.

To Michael Hylahaw for making a proper footpath from
Baileys corner to Dr. Lawlers and widening it 6 inches 5. 0. 0.

To John McManus, 40 Tons Gravel on Mt. Hawkins 1. 17. 6.

To John McManus, 40 Tons Gravel on Meeting Lane
and breaking the high stones 2. 2. 2.

To John McManus for sinking a Castledermot stone
at Mr. Judge’s small gate 0. 7. 6.


At it’s meeting on 6th June, 1842 the Town Commissioners agreed valuations which were to be placed on local properties and which were to form the basis of the rates imposed and collected within the town area to finance the work of the Town Commissioners. The list of valuations showed that there 857 houses in the town, of which 380 were slated and 477 thatched.

It is interesting to note that between 1842 and 1851 the only rates struck by the Commissioners were £30.15.6 in the first year of its operation and £50 in 1851. A large portion of the Commissioners’ revenue came from payments at the public weighing scales in the Market Square. Since the time of the former Corporation a salaried weighmaster was in office but he was pensioned off in 1848. Subsequently the public scales was let on a yearly basis until in August 1852 it was again taken in charge by a full time official of the Town Commissioners. The weighmaster generally employed clerks whose job it was to note the weight registered on an official ticket. Free lance porters, supplied with a distinctive arm band by the Commissioners were available in the Market Square to assist in lifting and loading sacks for which they were paid ½d. per sack by each farmer or merchant availing of their services.

Another source of revenue was the monthly auction of manure collected from the streets of the town. The cleaning of the streets was of a most rudimentary kind, but most important, particularly in summer, was the use of a watering cart, designed to keep down the dust.

It wasn’t until December 1848 that the Commissioners gave active consideration to the need for street sweeping. In that month a committee of three was appointed to wait on the Board of Guardians to enquire on what terms the paupers in the poor house would sweep streets from 10 o’clock each day. The time was carefully chosen so as not to interfere with the right of householders to gather up the manure in front of their own doors - an important concession at a time when artificial fertilisers were unknown.

The Board of Guardians were less than sympathetic to the Town Commissioners’ delegation and on the 6th January, 1849 the Commissioners agreed “that two men be appointed as scavengers to keep the town clean and that two wheelbarrows be provided for them”.

In this the centenary year of the Urban District Council it’s heartening to remind ourselves of the many advances made by our Town Council since the appointment of the two men with wheelbarrows 150 years ago.

Athy Town Commissioners (3)

While the Town Commissioners incorporated under the Town improvement (Ireland) Act 1854 were more active than their Town Borough predecessors any increased benefit to the townspeople was a matter of dispute. The lighting of the town was one of their more tangible achievements. On 21st January 1858 the town was lit for the first time. The public lamps which were only lit during the winter months were extinguished at 12.30 each night. In later years this was to be brought forward to 10.30 each night. Local businesses were encouraged to sponsor and pay for public lamps but without much success. A notable exception was the Local Loans Fund operating out of Emily Square which paid for six gas lamps in addition to making a substantial donation each year to the town Commissioners to provide work for the poor men of the town.

The Town Commissioners were less successful in providing the townspeople with a wholesome supply of drinking water. Indeed between 1848 and 1900 the Commissioners provided only one additional public pump in the town to bring their total number to six. There was also a number of private wells in use, but in common with the public pumps the water supplied was generally acknowledged to be unfit for human consumption, and the cause of much illness amongst the townspeople. Despite this the Town fathers did not provide a piped water supply until 1907.

Fire fighting was for a long time a communal activity with townspeople using every available means to preserve life and property. In the early part of the 19th century the Military Barracks housed the only fire engine in Athy. Primarily intended for military use it was made available as required for fire fighting in the town. In June 1846 the Town Commissioners sought permission for the local constabulary to use the fire engine in the absence of the military. The Commissioners later became owners of a fire engine which remained in use until replaced in 1895. In 1881 the Commissioners appointed a committee to form a volunteer Fire Brigade in the town for whom 12 zinc buckets and a barrel and tub were to be provided ‘for the better working of the engine’.

The fire engine purchased from Merryweathers of London in 1895 at a cost of £149=12=8 required 22 men to work its engine and man its pumps. No doubt conscious of the fire hazards posed by the overcrowded hovels of the town there was no shortage of volunteers for this work. In 1907 the secretary of the Athy Voluntary Fire Brigade James Duthie reported a membership of 27 with plans to increase the numbers by an additional 10 men. Following the purchase of the Merryweathers engine Athy’s first fire engine was sold to Duthie Large Limited for £15.

In 1894 the Town Commissioners began a long and unsuccessful campaign to have the local constabulary relocated in the centre of the town. This followed the constabulary’s removal to the Military Barracks in Woodstock Street following a report on the unsanitary condition of the accommodation provided for them in Whites Castle. The military barracks which had been vacant for almost 15 years was renovated at a cost of nearly £500 to accommodate the seven married men and the four single men who were members of the local constabulary. The Police authorities in refusing the Town Commissioners requests were supported by the local Inspector who reported that despite the move to Woodstock Street the peace of the town was well maintained with no inconvenience to the public. Undaunted the Commissioners pressed ahead by calling on the South Kildare members of Parliament the raise the matter in the House of Commons in 1895. Their campaign was unsuccessful but memories in Athy were obviously long as on 3rd June 1907 the Urban Council resolved
‘that a letter be written to Mr Denis Kilbride M.P. requesting him to ask a question in the House of Commons relative to the removal of the Police from the centre of the town to their present out of the way position and to ask the Inspector-General be directed to hold an inquiry in the Town into the matter’.

The Constabulary were to remain in the Military Barracks until the emergence of the Irish Free State.

On 15 September 1890 a special meeting of the Town Commissioners was held at which it was agreed to appoint a committee to consider the submission of an application to the Local Government Board to have the Town Commission constituted the Urban Sanitary Authority for Athy. The Committees report was adopted on 2 February 1891 but nothing further was done about the matter until 14 November 1898 when a resolution was adopted asking the Local Government Board to constitute the Commissioners as an Urban Sanitary Authority. A public inquiry was held in the Town Clerks office on 10 April 1899 presided over by Arthur Bourke Local Government Inspector. Following his report the Local Government Board made an order declaring Athy an Urban District with effect from 1 April 1900.

King Henry VIII had first granted corporate status to the inhabitants of Athy in 1515 when the charter of that year provided for the setting up of a Borough Council and the election of a Provost. A later charter of 1613 confirmed the Town’s Borough status but replaced the Provost with an annually elected Town Sovereign. Athy Borough Council was finally abolished in 1840 and the last Town Sovereign was the Rev Frederick Trench of Kilmoroney, Rector of St Michael’s Athy. It is of interest to note that the first election to a town council in Athy took place on the 5th of July 1847 when both the Parish Priest Rev John Lawler and the local Vicar Rev Henry Bristow stood as candidates. Both were elected.

With the declaration of Athy as an Urban District from the first of April 1900 the Town was about to enter upon its most effective period of municipal government after almost 400 years of local rule.

Athy Town Commissioners (2)

August 1870 witnessed something of an upheaval in the smooth functioning of Athy’s Town Commissioners with the resignation of the Town Clerk Henry Sheill and of the Inspector of Nuisances John Roberts. Both resignations apparently arose because of a proposal to amalgamate the offices of Town Clerk, Inspector of Nuisances and Town Scavenger. This motion was eventually not proceeded with, no doubt to the regret of those who warmed to the prospect of a Town Clerk toiling with brush and shovel on the local streets. With the retirement of Henry Sheill, the position of Town Clerk passed through many hands, including one man who defaulted with some of the Towns Finances. In 1890 Joseph Lawler was appointed Town Clerk which position he was to hold for many years.

On 5 September 1873 the Town Commissioners held a special meeting to consider the report of Dr. Ferris - Medical Officer of the Athy Dispensary. The report stated;
“In a sanitary point of view the dwellings of the labouring population of this town and still more the yards attached to them are for the most part in a very bad state. The Local Authorities here whose business it is to have this state of things rectified are very inactive and remiss, they need some pressure from the local Government Board to induce them to act in time. There are a couple of public pumps much resorted to by the inhabitants (the poorer especially) which are of a very unfit description. I could give evidence of this from the prevalence of the localization of enteric fever in the immediate vicinity of one of them and otherwise. By the reason of the inactivity of the sanitary and nuisance Authorities here there is a complete want of prearrangements as to action to be taken in the event of an epidemic breaking. We have some cases of enteric fever in town at present. By reason of extensive good traffic to this town by boat on the Grand Canal there is an exceptional liability to importation of contagious disease by the boatmen. In the event such accruing there is a complete want of any settled legal plan of action to prevent the spread of it. The want of such plan was much felt when last year a case of small pox was imported in the person of a boatman.

The spread of the epidemic was prevented only by the voluntary and as I believe illegal action of a few inhabitants who joined to reimburse the owner for the burying of body clothes and bed clothes and forcing of the man into the Fever Hospital”.

No action was taken by the Commissioners following the Doctors report.

In 1877 Athy Town Commissioners convened a meeting in the Hibernian Hotel, Dublin of all Commissioners of towns under 6,000 inhabitants in the country. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare representations for submission to the Chief Secretary on the advisability of such towns obtaining jurisdiction for sanitary services. At that meeting held on 19 January representatives from Athy, Killiney, Wicklow, Fethard, Cashel, Newbridge, Tuam and Trim passed a number of resolutions including one expressing the opinion that the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1874 would be more satisfactorily administered for towns by Town Commissioners rather than by Boards of Guardians. Messrs M. Lawler, J. Leahy, E. Lord and A. Duncan of Athy together with Patrick Doyle of Newbridge were appointed to wait on the Chief Secretary of Ireland to present the resolutions. The deputation met the Chief Secretary on 10th April 1877 and its Secretary, local shopkeeper, Alexander Duncan was later to report:
“it appears that the Chief Secretary would allow towns below 6,000 population to become the Sanitary Authority, if so disposed, with the consent of the Local Government Board”.

Athy Town Commissioners in August 1879 passed a resolution that they become the Urban Sanitary Authority. The matter was quickly dropped when it was pointed out to the Commissioners that the entire Sanitary rate would thereupon fall on the occupiers of houses in the town of Athy.

In the 1880’s Athy Town Commissioners became politically active in sympathy with the national mood of the day. In January 1881 they passed a resolution urging the “creation of a peasant proprietory” and laws “to protect the tenant cultivators of the soil” to be followed in June by a resolution “that the provisions of the Land Bill be extended to lease-holders as well as yearly tenants”. In March 1885 a motion “that all former resolutions, compacts or agreements relative to the election of Chairman of Commissioners be rescinded and that in future the Chairman be elected on his merits by a majority of the Board” was dropped on the grounds that there was no need for its adoption. The significance of the motion can be understood on reading a letter written by Michael Lawler of Athy Town Commissioners to the Leinster Express in October 1854. Lawler wrote:

“(Athy Town Commissioners) then entered into a mutual agreement to keep all political feeling out of our meetings and to have as near as possible half Roman Catholic and half Protestant, also to select the Chairman alternatively from each side”.

Clearly the increasing desire of some of the Town Commissioners to support political movements of the day heralded a change in the composition and political independence of the Town Commission. Within four months the Athy Commissioners were to present an address of welcome to Michael Davitt Founder of the Land League on the occasion of this visit to Athy on Sunday 5 July 1885. Towards the end of the year the Duke of Leinster’s agent wrote to the Commissioners drawing their attention;
“to the fact that his Grace gave a room in the Town Hall for the purpose of transacting Municipal business but not for holding Political meetings”.

Clearly the long standing cordiality between the Duke and his submissive subjects was coming to an end! During the remaining years of its life the Athy Town Commissioners showed its political leanings in condemning the Luggacurran Evictions of 1887/1889 and by passing a resolution on 6 January 1890 confirming its “most implicit confidence” in Charles Stewart Parnell.

Athy Town Commissioners (1)

As this is the centenary year of the passing of the Local Government Act which created County Councils and Urban District Councils it is appropriate to take a look back at the workings of Athy Town Commissioners which held it’s first meeting in Athy on 16th June, 1856. The Town Commissioners were the predecessors of the Urban District Council and it’s first Chairman was Mark Kavanagh, while Henry Sheill was appointed Town Clerk at the salary of ten pounds a year. John Roberts was appointed Inspector of Nuisances at a yearly salary of twelve pounds. John Hayden obtained the lucrative position of weigh master and adjuster of weights and measures for which he was to receive thirty five pounds a year. Patrick Byrne, the public bellman, received a paltry two guineas for his efforts. While the weekly meetings of the Commissioners were held in the Grand Jury room of the Courthouse the Town Clerk’s office was in Mr. Sheill’s house in Leinster Street with hours of attendance from 11.00am to 12noon each day, excluding Sunday. One of the first Acts of the new Town Commissioners was to order a load of lime for distribution “to the poor people for white washing their houses.”

The provision and maintenance of water pumps, the inspection and registration of lodging houses, the paving of footpaths, street cleaning and the provision of a public scales were the principle functions of the Town Commissioners. No evidence can be produced to indicate that Athy had public lighting prior to the lighting of the town by gas in 1858. On 20th October, 1856 a rate of eight pence in the pound was levied on the town to raise a revenue of £120. This enabled the Commissioners to appoint William Langan, Pat Hyland, Michael Moore and James McDonald as porters to attend at the public crane in Emily Square and to assist at all the markets in the town.

Public dissatisfaction with the Town Commissioners may be surmised from an attempt made on 15th October, 1857 to contest five vacancies on the Commission caused by retirements under an agreed rota system. The five outgoing Commissioners were opposed by Luke O’Neal, Patrick Whelan, John P. Meredith, John Diven, Pat Grace and James Lawler who however only received five votes each compared to the 20 cast for the outgoing Commissioners. A poll demanded by Matt Minch was agreed to be fixed for October 22nd. This was subsequently rescinded on a technicality and the five outgoing Commissioners were deemed re-elected. The decision was the cause of frustration for many unhappy ratepayers and was in time to result in a concerted effort to break the existing Town Commissioners’ monopoly of the elected positions in the town.

On 21st January, 1858 the town of Athy was lit by gas for the first time. The public lamps were lit during the winter months only and were extinguished at 12.30 each night. Local businesses were encouraged to sponsor and pay for public lamps but without much success. A notable exception was the Local Loans Fund operating out of premises at Emily Square which paid for six gas lamps in addition to making a substantial donation each year to the Town Commissioners to provide work for the poor men of the town.

On 5th August, 1861 the Town Commissioners had copies of the following Notice printed and posted throughout the town.

REWARD

“Whereas the public lamps and public pumps of Athy are damaged from time to time by some person or persons the Athy Town Commissioners hereby offer a reward of 2/6 to any person who will give information on any such offence.
JAMES LEAHY
CHAIRMAN”

Cleary youthful exuberance was not unknown, even in the hungry days immediately following the famine.

In July 1860 the Town Commissioners had the bell removed from the Church of Ireland in Emily Square and put up in the Town Hall. Apparently the Church bell was to replace another bell from the Town Hall which in accordance with the Town Commissioners’ instructions was to be sold. Prior to this a bell had been sited at the Canal Bridge and used as a fire bell, one William Howard being employed to ring it whenever notice of a fire was received. In December 1861 the Commissioners ordered that the ringing of the Canal Bridge bell be discontinued. Instead the former Church bell which still hangs on the Town Hall was to be used to signal the outbreak of a fire in the Town.

As late as the 1920’s successive Town Councils saw fit to obtain the views and recommendations of the Duke of Leinster on many matters of municipal concern. In March 1862 the Town Commissioners wished to re-arrange the monthly fares to accommodate dealers sending cattle to the Dublin markets. Only when the Duke of Leinster gave his approval for the proposal did the elective representatives of the town proceed to change the fair days for pigs, horses and cattle to the first Tuesday and Wednesday of each month respectively.

Between 1862 and 1864 the Town Commissioners were engaged in negotiations with the Electric and International Telegraph Company and the British and Magnetic Telegraph Company regarding the opening of a telegraph office in Athy. The Town Commissioners’ reluctance to guarantee either company against future losses caused a delay in the opening of a telegraph office in the town. Eventually agreement was reached in October 1864 with the British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company and Athy’s first Telegraph Office was opened on 19th November, 1864.

In 1862 the Town Commissioners approached the Duke of Leinster to obtain the use of the Record Court previously leased to the County Kildare Grand Jury. This ground floor room located on the East wing of the Town Hall adjoining the junction of Meeting Lane and Emily Row was renovated at the Duke of Leinster’s expense during 1865/1866 and leased to the Town Commissioners for use as their Assembly Rooms. The Commissioners were to remain in this room until 1887 when by agreement with the Athy Mechanics Institute they took over the room which continued to be the Urban Council Offices until the mid-1980’s. This allowed the Mechanics Institute to have use of the larger room adjoining Emily Row which was used as a Billiard Room up to the 1940’s. Both rooms are now incorporated into the Town’s Heritage Centre.