Volunteers Help Revive Townshend’s Historic Town Hall
January 10, 2026
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Townshend is home to a classic town green, covered and arch bridges, and the quiet village of Harmonyville.
It’s also where the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House sits just south of where Routes 30 and 35 meet. The building features a second-floor stage, clock tower and cupola.
But over time, the building’s beauty has lost its original luster with chipped paint, stained railings, and scuffed doors, walls and stairs. Now, a group of volunteers is working to restore the building, which opened in 1921.
“We’re just a group of citizens who believe this building is worth saving,” says volunteer Cory Ciklin. “None of us are professionals, but we care deeply about this place and what it means to Townshend.”
-Volunteer Cory Ciklin on the veranda of the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House in October.
Reviving a Community Asset
In 1910, Townshend built its original town hall. Tragedy struck in 1918 when that building burned to the ground, along with several other nearby buildings.
Philanthropist Kate Dutton, a woman deeply connected to Townshend, stepped in to fund a new building. She dedicated the new town hall and opera house to her late husband and son, both of whom had passed away, ensuring their memory would live on through the community.
The building looks much the same as when Dutton gave it to the town more than a century ago, but years of wear and tear have left their mark.
“For a small town like Townshend, with just over 1,000 people and not a very wealthy town, it’s very difficult to tell folks…that we need your money to fix the window sashes at town hall or polish the banisters,” Ciklin explains.
It’s not that people in town don’t care about the building or its condition, he says.
“It just always comes back to resources. And that’s really what our volunteer group has decided to do here, and that is help with the resources,” Ciklin adds.
The second floor’s opera house. Some of the chairs used today were salvaged from the original town hall, which burned in 1918.
“The Backbone of the Community”
The volunteer group, called the Friends of the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House, has invested hundreds of volunteer hours and materials to restore the building by scraping, sanding, painting and making repairs.
As Ciklin and other volunteers continue their work, the town hall stands as a symbol of both Townshend’s past and its future—a place where history, community and civic life meet under one roof.
“This building really is the backbone of our community life. And we ought to be protecting and maintaining our most recognizable, iconic asset in town,” Ciklin says.
Happy Vermont Podcast
-The building’s original clock tower houses a clock made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company. It still keeps accurate time.
In this Happy Vermont podcast episode, Ciklin shares the history of the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House and the ongoing work to restore the building to its former glory. Listen to the podcast episode.
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