Colfax Municipal Building open house set for Dec. 7
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — When was the last time you had a good look around the Colfax Municipal Building?
How long has it been since you’ve been in the basement of the municipal building?
If you said it’s been years — or even decades — you’re not alone.
But here’s the thing — now is your chance to see the building and learn more about the plans for installing an elevator to serve all three floors at the Colfax Elevator Commission’s open house at the Colfax Municipal Building on Saturday, December 7, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The elevator commission has been authorized by the village board to work on raising money for the elevator project, which is expected to cost an estimated $700,000.
So far, the elevator commission has raised a little over $60,000 through donations, pledges, events at the municipal building auditorium and a community-wide thrift sale held at the Colfax Fairgrounds in August.
The elevator commission’s fund-raising efforts also are expected to include applying for a variety of large and small grants, the largest of which would be a federal Community Development Block Grant for up to $500,000.
CDBG funds require a matching amount of money.
“This is the last major upgrade needed to make this a building that should last for another 100 years. We are helping to preserve a historic Colfax sandstone building that our community should be proud to show off,” said Gary Swartz, a member of the elevator commission and also a member of the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group.
The Colfax Municipal Building was built in 1915-1916 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Closed
The auditorium — also known as the Cozy Theater — was closed off to the public for about 40 years as a way to save money for the village on heating costs.
The basement has been closed off to the public, too, for several decades because of water infiltration problems.
Before drainage was addressed around the foundation of the building and in Tower Park, summer rain storms or snow melt in the spring would result in cascades of water coming into the municipal building basement.
To help the basement dry out, all of the wall coverings were removed so the basement walls are now down to bare sandstone.
The Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group has worked hard on restoring the auditorium and fund-raised and spent over $100,000 on an electrical upgrade for the building that included lighting for the auditorium.
The elevator project will include remodeling the basement into a usable space.
Perhaps the municipal building basement’s most historic moment was when it was used as a triage center for the injured during the June 4, 1958, Colfax tornado.
In years past, the municipal building basement has been used for just about anything you can think of: banquets, Boy Scout meetings, the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby, Girl Scout meetings, and roller skating, to name just a few.
Vision
The elevator commission decided to hold an open house at the municipal building so the community could have a chance to see what the vision is for the future.
“We have a beautiful building, and we want to invite the community to come take a closer look! We’d like to show everyone first-hand what the building’s assets are and give them a sense of its past history, but we also we want people to see the challenges we face here, to better understand our push for improvement,” said Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library and also a member of the elevator commission.
The Colfax Public Library would like to be able to use the basement for library programs.
If you’ve ever been in the library for story time, you know there is limited space to accommodate 20-some pre-schoolers and their parents.
“The basement is normally closed off to the public, so this is a rare opportunity to see what’s down there. Also this will opportunity to see the History Room, which is not normally open, to ask questions about the elevator project, and talk to people who are actively involved and interested in the building’s revival,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.
“Our project is more likely to succeed if the community takes an active interest. This is a building that belongs to the public, and the public needs to be actively interested in its maintenance and upkeep in order for it to continue in an active, healthy state into the future,” she said.
The Colfax Municipal Building open house on Saturday, December 7, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. will include tours of the building, an opportunity to see the Colfax History Room, refreshments and information about the elevator project.
Visitors to the open house also will be able to find out how they can contribute to the project financially, if they are interested, or by donating their time and talents.
Other events coming up in the municipal building’s Cozy Theater include Christmas in Colfax on Saturday, December 21, which will feature a visit from Santa Claus and a free movie, “Toy Story 4.”
The Colfax Commercial Club is planning an Elvis Presley double-feature free movie matinee on Saturday, January 11, in honor of what would have been Elvis’s 85th birthday on January 8.
