Known first as “The Town House” the building that houses the Hallowell Fire Department is one of the oldest structures being used for this purpose in the country. The building, with its hose tower and weather vane is one of the City’s the most recognizable landmarks and for that reason was chosen for this year’s Hallowell ornament. The delightful decoration is the fifth created by China Village artist Paula Stevens.

Paula’s love of early American painting and folk art allows her to incorporate styles and techniques of the past to develop her decorative art. Each ornament is carefully hand-painted in exquisite detail.  Seventy-five have been commissioned, with half scheduled to be delivered before the holidays and the remainder shortly after the first of the year.

The Town House Hallowell ornament can be seen and ordered at Water Street Mercantile, 136 Water St. and at the Hallowell Antique Mall 191 Water St. in Hallowell . A deposit is required with every order. The 2008 ornament showing the Old South Congregational Church may be purchased there as well. The Town House ornament is also available  by sending a check for $49.00, plus $5.00 for postage and handling, to Hallowell Area Board of Trade PO Box 246, Hallowell, ME 04347. Proceeds from the sale helps the Board of Trade promote and sponsor many of the city’s celebrations.

The Town House was built in 1828 and served as municipal offices, school, jail and community center.  Sunday School programs were offered here as well as concerts, dances, roller skating and other events.  The Hallowell Lyceum, an education and entertainment forum, met here as well.

An exciting new invention destined to connect the nation in unimagined ways was introduced to the city in an 1832 Town House lecture by Mr. Merrick. A schedule of 1853 presentations showed a long list of notables including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Phillips, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard Henry Dana and women’s rights advocate, Lucy Stone.

Hallowell’s new City Hall was completed in 1898 and the Fire Department moved into its new Second Street home and has served the community at this location ever since. The Fire Department boasts one of the finest collections of antique fire fighting equipment in Maine. The collection and the history of the fire department is one of the exhibits being developed as part of the Historic Hallowell project.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 6:05 am and is filed under Arts & Culture, General Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.