NORTH WESTMINSTER-This spring, voters in Westminster will be asked once again to help decide the fate of one of the town’s most interesting public buildings.
Article 20 states: “Shall the voters of the Town of Westminster allow the Selectboard to offer for public sale, the property known as the North Westminster Community House to be used exclusively as residential housing?”
This exact article was presented to voters at the Annual Town Meeting in 2025, but resident John Ewald asked that it be tabled for a year.
While there had been discussion for some time about what to do with the Community House building, this request last year for permission for the town to sell it to be converted to residential use “was kind of a surprise,” he said.
Ewald and an organized group of citizens — the Friends of the North Westminster Community House — are hoping voters say “no” to the article. They’d like to see the nearly 100-year-old structure used once again for community events.
Ewald, a town lister who lives in Westminster West, is a leader and spokesman for the group, which has been working since 2023 to develop a viable plan to keep the building active as a community center.
The group is working with volunteers in the community to come to the aid of this building that has served the town for so long. The first priority: bringing the building up to fire and occupancy codes.
For decades, North Westminster, known locally as Gageville, was an incorporated village within the town of Westminster. The village population peaked around 1950, with over 400 residents. With a dwindling population, down to 262 by the 2020 census, the village dissolved its charter in 2010 and merged with Westminster.
This ended the need for a separate administrative body, and the Westminster Selectboard took oversight of North Westminster. In 2012, North Westminster officially deeded the community house over to the town. Town officials began discussing what to do with the building, which needed maintenance and upgrades.
Selectboard Chair Craig Allen said the board has made some needed improvements, including foundation work, a new metal roof, and in 2017, 13 new windows and pressure-treated sills.
“We’d like to keep the building in the community,” Allen said, “but we want somebody to do something with it.”
To that end, in 2020, then-Town Manager Russell Hodgkins notified the community that “the Selectboard is requesting that a committee be formed to investigate the possible uses for the North Westminster Community House on Route 121. This Committee will be looking into whether it’s feasible to renovate this building to a point of social need or the possibility that the Town lets the building be sold.”
He requested that any who were interested, to “please call the Town Hall and let us know.”
Ewald said that not much was done by the town after that, and he felt that he and other Westminster residents had been moving in a good direction for preserving the building as a community center. He said another citizens group he is part of had done the same thing years ago for a community center in Westminster West.
After Ewald formed the Friends of the North Westminster Community House group in 2023, members met with the fire marshal to see what would need to happen to reopen the building for community use. It had been closed for about a decade.
So when he was surprised with the 2025 Town Meeting request asking voters to give the town permission to sell the building, Ewald made the motion to defer the decision. Voters agreed, and the article will again be considered at Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Bellows Falls Union High School.
A $25,000-to-$30,000 proposition
Ewald said no public hearing addressed the matter and that most North Westminster residents were unaware of the town’s intentions. A group of volunteers was also working with a state fire marshal to render plans and drawings to get the building up and running.
At the Dec. 9, 2025, Selectboard meeting, Ewald and group member Brandon Sherwood presented an information packet from the Friends of the North Westminster Community House with a plan for the building. They asked for feedback from the board.
Ewald said that reactions were mixed but that overall, he felt the board was supportive.
Allen said he supported the move to keep the building in the community.
“It’s a solid building, and it would give the town another place to hold meetings,” he said.
Allen also noted that it is the only building in Westminster that is tied in to the Bellows Falls water and sewer system, which is another positive for the town.
Ewald told the board that the initial plan to upgrade the building would not cost the town any money and that it instead would rely on donations and volunteers.
The fire marshal requires that the building include a ramp, an accessible bathroom, and exit lights, and a stage curtain has been deemed a potential fire hazard. The plan also calls for closing off the downstairs area for the time being and installing drywall.
Ewald told the board that he estimates it will take $25,000 to $30,000 to bring the building up to occupancy compliance. He said he felt that local contractors and businesses would donate time and materials to help with the first phase.
Board member Stephen Major said at the meeting that if an organized plan is presented for the use of the building, including steps to complete a plan, there could be broader support for activity in the building.
Ewald said that his citizen’s group had contacted the Preservation Trust of Vermont, “and we met with them at the Community House.”
He said that representatives of the historic preservation nonprofit advised that “this building is really a gem and one worthy of preservation and continued use,” and they offered assistance and support.
Ewald said that he had talked with people living in the neighborhood and found that they were “in favor of the renovation and believe that it is and should continue to be a valuable resource.”
“Open houses were conducted numerous times throughout the year to give residents an opportunity to view this beautiful historical structure and review our plans,” he said.
School, town used the building
In researching the Community House online, one might find a false narrative that the building was constructed in 1933.
That year, the Bellows Falls Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp was created, which despite its name, was located in North Westminster, about a mile from the Community House[“How ‘Roosevelt’s Tree Army’ remade Vermont,” News, April 3, 2024]. The newly formed CCC is credited with the construction of the Community House.
But it turns out that is not true.
According to town historical records and documents, residents of the village formed the North Westminster Improvement Societyin 1920. It held suppers, dances, and fundraisers, and in 1924, the group decided to use the funds to build its own community hall. In 1925 the land was purchased, and the North Westminster Community House was started on April 10, 1930, and was dedicated onJuly 31.
Ewald said town records indicate that the building was completed by community members in 1930, three years before the CCC emerged. There is some evidence, though, that CCC members helped paint the new structure in 1933.
The building sits on a concrete foundation and basement and includes a full commercial kitchen. The upstairs consists of a stage and an open area that includes a basketball hoop for games, with wooden frames protecting the windows.
The building remains unheated. Allen said that installing a heating system is an expensive proposition without the town knowing how the building will be used.
A four-room, eight-grade school operated in North Westminster not far from the Community House until 1964, and that school used the building as its auditorium and gymnasium. School plays, Christmas pageants, graduations, and other school events took place there until the school closed.
Over nearly a century the building has also been used for public meetings, social events, dances, parties, wedding receptions, private events, and more. For decades, Town Meeting took place there every three years in a rotation with sites in Westminster and Westminster West.
Sherwood, who lives beside the Community House, described it as “a perfect place for community activities.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help,” he said. “I’m all about preservation.”
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.