Contributed by Kevin Berner
JEFFERSON — When the Jefferson Historical Society purchased the former Masonic Hall, we did not have an available budget to restore it. We knew that we immediately needed to replace the roof. Interior water damage had to be dealt with, and the furnace needed to be replaced. The 1865 structure needed to be made more energy efficient, which was accomplished by adding insulation and replacing windows. We planned to put a museum on the second floor of the building we had renamed Judd Hall. The steep stairs would have excluded many people with hip or knee problems and that necessitated adding a lift. These and many other structural problems needed to be addressed.
Over the last six years many of these problems have been solved. We were only able to do so with the support of grants from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, the O’Connor Foundation, and many generous donations from our members and local residents. We now have a good-looking, functional building with a first floor well-suited for public gatherings and presentations. The second floor is full of displays about the history of Jefferson of which we are enormously proud. To the historical society members and visiting public we think about how the building has been improved and how we can now proudly use it to benefit the community through programming. Recently, I have begun to see it through a different perspective, an economic one.
Our volunteers quickly went to work cleaning out the building and doing the simple repairs that we could do on our own. Many tasks were better left to professionals in various fields. Our first outside project was to replace the roof. A grant bought us the roof, but it also gave jobs to roofers. Walls have been moved, sheetrock hung, ceilings were redone, trim work done and thus five carpenters have earned wages doing that work. The wooden fire escape without any railing was replaced. This gave masons work doing the new foundation, engineers work designing the structure, and a local metal fabricator a job building the new fire escape, which then needed to be installed all providing jobs for various contractors. When we needed a two-story addition on the back of the building for storage, archival space, and the lift, that involved people to design the structure, excavate for the foundation, build the structure, wire it, and install mini-splits to heat it, providing more jobs. Part of the foundation sills had to be replaced as did the septic tank leading to jobs for excavation, plumbing, and block-laying. All the exterior and most rooms inside have been painted by contractors. Gutters were installed on the front porch where the deck was also replaced. Our muddy driveway was replaced with pavement and a local painter produced a striking sign saying that Judd Hall is the home of the historical society. An upholstery company restored and recovered two old settees that the Masons had left in the building. All the contractors and professionals gained incomes stimulating the local economy. They in turn passed that money onto grocery stores, gas stations, and for their own needs providing further stimulation.
Yet another layer of economic benefits were yielded by the suppliers of the wood for the carpenters, cinder blocks for the masons, paint for sprucing up the building, shingles for the roof, wiring for the electrician as he upgraded our electric service to accommodate the lift. A building center found a market for nine new windows and three new doors. A long list of other materials needed to be purchased for additional projects.
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