Putney group vows to rebuild after fire
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Fire engulfs Putney General Store in Putney late Sunday night. The Associated Press |
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By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: November 4, 2009
PUTNEY — Less than 48 hours after a four-alarm blaze destroyed the 1796 Putney General Store, the Putney Historical Society voted Tuesday to continue its rebuilding efforts.
The society, which bought the general store in 2008 after the first fire there, voted unanimously in support of continuing a general store, according to Lyssa Papazian.
Papazian said the cause of the fire, which was labeled "suspicious" by Putney Fire Chief Thomas Goddard shortly after the fire, was still unknown.
She said fire investigators from the Vermont State Police spent the entire day in Putney sifting through the charred remains of the store. The day before, they had focused on the fire damage at the adjacent building, owned by Neil Madow of Westminster, she said.
The general store burned in a late-night fire Sunday, only about 18 months after a similar late-night fire heavily damaged the store, which functioned as the de facto community center for Putney residents for more than two centuries.
The then-owner of the building decided he couldn't rebuild after the first fire, and that's when the historical society stepped in and bought the fire-damaged building for about $100,000. Since then, the historical society has raised $680,000 toward the reconstruction effort.
"We just had a meeting and the historical society voted to continue rebuilding," Papazian said. "We have the desire. We have no idea what it would look like, whether it would look exactly like the general store. But we're going to try and rebuild."
Papazian said not rebuilding wasn't really an option.
"Not to rebuild and sell that lot, we would be giving up control of our own downtown," said Papazian, a former Putney Select Board member and a historic preservationist by training.
"The alternative is scary. If we sold the site and lost control of it, we would have no idea what would be in the center of town and the idea of losing control of the site," said Papazian. Papazian, who was project manager for the rebuilding project on behalf of the historical society, said she had her first meeting with the insurance adjuster for Peerless Insurance on Tuesday.
Papazian said the historical society had gotten a call from the office of Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy who had been instrumental in the society getting a $100,000 planning grant earlier in the year.
"They were very supportive and that was great. We've had some pretty positive feedback. We don't have all the answers. We've just begun," she said.
And she said the word from the state, which had awarded the town of Putney a $211,000 grant earlier this year to help with the reconstruction of the store, was "not to worry."
"If we rebuild, I think everything will be OK except for our tax credits, which were based on the historic building," she said.
Neither Thomas Goddard, Putney's fire chief, nor state police Detective Sgt. Fred Cornell returned telephone calls Tuesday.
Papazian said another decision made at Tuesday's meeting was to pursue expanding the historical society and "to invite everyone in Windham County and Putney to join."
She said the society has 250 members. "In the past year and a half, with all the activity, we've gotten a lot of new members," she said. Membership is $15, and any funds would help the group jumpstart its renewed effort.
On top of that, the historical society is about to take over the ownership of the Putney Federated Church, a short distance from the general store site.
The Putney General Store was more than a store, she said. And the fire brought tears to the eyes of many, she said.
Townspeople need to grieve their loss, she said. "People are not grieving the loss of the store, but the loss of all the community effort and that hurts more."
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com