Pelham landmark to be demolished, farewell party planned

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:40:00 GMT

It is considered by some to be a historic landmark, a reminder of a once-thriving transportation system. But soon, the old trolley barn in Pelham’s town center will be torn down.

It’s not going to be demolished, however, without a farewell.

St. Patrick’s Parish, which owns the building, is holding a movie night fundraiser – dubbed the “Trolley Barn’s Last Hurrah” – to say goodbye to the building and raise money to remove it.

“It’s a chapter in history that will be closed,” said Selectman William McDevitt, who is disappointed the building will be demolished but understands why it must come down.

The white brick building, according to Bill Scanzani, a member of the church’s capital improvement committee, is suffering from structural problems, including a wall that is separating from the roof. The building is about 106 years old.

About two years ago, an engineering review of church property determined that it would cost about $1.5 million to fix the trolley building, according to the Rev. Robert Guillemette, the church’s pastor. The parish doesn’t have the money to save it, he said.

The building, known as St. Patrick’s Hall, had been used by the church’s parochial school for physical education classes and was made available to outside groups for use. But the Diocese of Manchester, concerned about safety and liability, closed the building.

Although the building is commonly referred to today as the trolley barn, it is not the barn’s entire original structure. The car house portion was razed during World War II.

The building that stands today is actually the barn’s power station, according to McDevitt. A 50,000-gallon water tank that supplied water for steam-powered generators once stood next to it.

The building is slated to be demolished in July at a cost of roughly $40,000. McDevitt is disappointed that a part of the town’s history will be lost.

“That is a remnant of what once was a thriving transportation system that ran through Southern New Hampshire,” he said.

According to the book, “Reflections,” a pictorial history of Pelham, the advent of mass transportation around the beginning of the 20th century brought trolley cars into small towns in the area, including Pelham, Hudson and Salem.

Electric cars transported workers to textile mills and shoe shops in Nashua and in the Massachusetts cities of Lowell and Haverhill.

To encourage people to travel on weekends, trolley car owners built amusement parks at Canobie Lake in Salem and Glen Forest in Methuen, Mass., according to Reflections.

Eventually, however, trolley routes were abandoned as automobile use became more prevalent during the 1920s.

Seven years ago, a local Boy Scout established a plaque outside the trolley barn to honor the memory of six people who died and 40 people who were injured when two trolley cars collided in Pelham in 1903.

That plaque will be saved when the building is demolished, Scanzani said.

Trolley Barn’s Last Hurrah St. Patrick’s Parish is inviting the public to a Movie Night to say “farewell” to this historic landmark. The movie “Monsters, Inc.” will be shown on the wall of the old trolley barn on Wednesday, July 2. Gates open at 7 p.m., and the movie starts at 8:30 p.m. Bring blankets and lawn chairs.

Popcorn, candy, other snacks, soda and water will be sold. And there will be a chance to win a one-of-a-kind “Monster’s Inc.” door. Tickets cost $10 per car. Cars will be parked in the lower lots at the church. Ticket proceeds will be used toward the building’s demolition.

Pelham News : traveling in NH

Pelham landmark to be demolished, farewell party planned