Lack of documentation on ownership of Yosemite artifacts raises questions

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC

While members of the Chester Select Board have asserted that the town has no ownership interest in the historic Yosemite Firehouse, questions arose at its Oct. 7 meeting regarding the building’s contents, namely those that are or might be the property of the town of Chester.

On July 15, Ron Patch, then president of the Chester Historical Society, told the Select Board that the “majority of the objects” in the Yosemite Firehouse belonged to the town. Speaking to Select Board member Arne Jonynas, he added, “Arne, in a way you (the town) do have an interest in the building because you have a  1931 American LaFrance fire truck and a 1849 hand pumper and other apparatus in there.”

(Click here to view the video of the meeting. Go to minute 45:50.)

Then in late August, members of the historical society, including select board member Bill Lindsay, were seen removing a number of objects from the firehouse. Several of these were sold to a local antiques dealer.

At the Oct. 7 Select Board meeting, The Telegraph asked the board if, after the July 15 meeting, an inventory of the building has been compiled or if any effort has been made to determine which of the contents were town property. The Telegraph also asked the board if it was aware that objects had been removed and sold.

Town manager David Pisha told the board that there is no inventory of the town property in the firehouse, and that two antique fire engines that are in the building are believed to be town property but are not on the town’s insurance inventory.

Asked about what had been taken out of the building, Lindsay said he did not have a list and could not remember.

He noted that “fire-related stuff” like helmets, nozzles and old defibrillators went to the historical society for display. Asked if he knew whether or not the items were town property, Lindsay said he did not know. “It’s fire apparatus and it’s on display,” said Lindsay. “Everybody just grabbed something and took it down to the historical society. I guess they categorized it and put it on display.”

“We need to get to the bottom of this,” said a surprised Jonynas, suggesting that the town get a procedure together to create a labeled inventory of the town property contained in the firehouse.

Fellow board member Tom Bock told the meeting that he had asked Cecil Waldo – who was on hand when the Village of Chester and the Town of Chester merged in the 1950s and 1960s – and that Waldo had told him that “all of the fire apparatus became the property of the Town of Chester.”

“I’d hate to see that heritage sold off or taken,” said board member Heather Chase.

“I don’t know what was there 50 years ago,” said Pisha. “I can only know what’s there today.”

“But what’s there today, I want there in two weeks,” said Chase.

Bill Dakin told the board that Skip Norton of the Bargain Corner had purchased the items from the historical society. Praising Norton, Dakin said that once Norton learned of the confusion on ownership, he told the Chester Community Alliance that he would hold on to the objects until a solution for the firehouse question is reached and they could be donated back to the building. According to one source, a check for the items was made out to the Chester Historical Society.

The Telegraph has learned that among the items that were sold were a Baltic No. 2 parlor stove dating to the 1870s, an antique wood-burning cookstove, two benches and an old Coke machine/cooler.

Board chair John DeBenedetti asked if it was possible that the contents were owned by the Yosemite Engine Co. But in an interview on Oct. 9, Ben Whalen, president of the Yosemite Engine Co. Inc. – which is the tax-exempt fundraising organization that supports the Chester Fire Department – told The Telegraph that he is “99.99 percent sure” his organization doesn’t own anything in the firehouse.

Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson, interviewed Oct. 12, said that over the years, his department “gave some small stuff, like helmets and pieces of hose to the historical society.”

But, he said that during his time as fire chief, the department has not given anything to the historical society, although department property does find its way to Yosemite.  “When it’s time to get rid of something that we don’t use anymore, but that we want to keep as part of the history of Chester’s Fire Department, we take it down there,” said Wilson. “For example, we have some old wooden ladders that are hanging on the wall and getting in the way and we are getting ready to take those down to the firehouse. We don’t want them in the way, but we’re not giving them away.”

While he said he wasn’t sure exactly what contents were town property, he agreed with Patch’s earlier statement, saying, “Two things that I know belong to the town are the American LaFrance and the hand pumper.”

Last week, The Telegraph emailed Patch – who resigned from office along with several members of the society’s board at the organization’s annual meeting on Sept. 24 – to see if he could clear up the confusion over property ownership. He replied, “Up yours.”

The Yosemite Firehouse, located just north of Town Hall on Route 103, was built in the 1870s. The land under the firehouse was given to Fire District No. 2 for as long as it was used as a fire station. It was used by Fire District No. 2 until the merger of the town and village in the mid-20th century. In 1975, using a “reversionary deed,” Pember and Gertrude Hazen took the property back and gave it – subject to the same reversionary clause – to the Chester Historical Society.

It’s hard to overstate the value of this building. It’s a very unusual building, one of the most important — if not the most important firehouse — in the state.

Paul Bruhn
Preservation Trust of Vermont

In 2003, the Preservation Trust of Vermont and the Freeman Foundation gave the historical society $35,000 “to repair the firehouse roof and towers, repair exterior woodwork, paint the building, and conserve some of the windows” with a goal of opening a fire museum. Preservation Trust noted that the community support of the project “was evidenced by 200+ contributions from town residents and businesses.”

“It’s hard to overstate the value of this building,” said Preservation Trust Executive Director Paul Bruhn. “It’s a very unusual building, one of the most important — if not the most important firehouse — in the state.”

Starting in January of this year, Patch, as historical society president, told the Select Board that the $1,200 insurance premium was “a serious drain on the society” and that the organization’s board wanted to get rid of the building. Ideas to save the structure ranged from the town or the Chester Community Alliance taking possession of it, to selling it to the highest offer. At this point there is no resolution in sight.

The select board asked Pisha to make an inventory of the contents of the firehouse for a future meeting.

— Cynthia Prairie contributed to this article.