Does Anyone Know the Seating Capacity For the Old Town Hall?

by cgrotke | Questions & Answers | 1835 Views

I was wondering if anyone can tell me the seating capacity of the old town hall in Brattleboro. Specifically, I’m wondering how many people could fit into the second floor of the building.

Anyone have a solid number to offer?

Comments | 5

  • Submitted by cgrotke on March 1, 2014 at 9:39 am

    Anyone remember?

    No one knows? Hmm.

    • Submitted by ADavis on March 1, 2014 at 11:43 am

      Old Town Hall

      What building are you referring to as the Old Town Hall?

      • Submitted by cgrotke on March 1, 2014 at 1:37 pm

        Near High and Main

        It’s not there anymore, but it was down on Main Street near Key Bank, and it said Town Hall on the front. Sold off in the 50’s, I think.

  • Submitted by DanAxtell on March 1, 2014 at 7:00 pm

    iBrattleboro knows the answer

    I cannot resist this opportunity to tease cgrotke. I do hope my teasing is construed as good-natured with only a hint of sincere frustration.

    The answer to the question of the capacity of the Brattleboro Town Hall Theater is available on a wonderful website. It’s in the Brain Trust part: https://www.ibrattleboro.com/braintrust/. That link says it will be back soon and it’s probably true because it’s said it for 3 years. An Archive-It link at bottom left of the current iBrattleboro site provides a clumsy way to find stuff on the old Brain Trust—where some generous guy named Chris posted much of the Annals of Brattleboro that mentions that the capacity of the Town Hall Auditorium (aka Festival Hall) was increased to 900 in 1895. The Timeline page notes that a “capacity crowd” of 1500 watched John Philip Sousa’s last performance in Brattleboro in 1928. The Timeline also notes that it was torn down in 1953 and was later the site of W T Grant’s and Woolworth’s and is now Main Street Gallery.

    The 2011 Brain Trust lingers at the non-profit site Archive.org (host of Archive-It): https://web.archive.org/web/20110128224428/https://www.ibrattleboro.com/braintrust/index.php?title=Main_Page . It’s clearly still a valuable reference, although difficult to search on the archive.org site. I am sympathetic that maintaining a website is an enigma that encompasses mysteries and riddles, but I hope that the irony of this thread is an encouragement to find a way bring back the Brain Trust. And thanks either way.

    • Submitted by cgrotke on March 3, 2014 at 8:41 am

      Thanks!

      Perfectly OK to tweak us. T’is deserved.

      I miss the Brain Trust, too. It is not forgotten. Lise swears she’s going to try again to resurrect it. (The wikimedia help is extremely lacking, so when things blow up, they don’t have much in the way of assistance – so we’ve tried, then gotten distracted with other paying jobs. This has to get done in “free” time.)

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