Center Rutland Clubhouse
By Richard J. Del Bianco: Town Clerk & Treasurer
The present residence of James Moran in Center Rutland on business Route 4
was purchased from the Vermont Marble Company in 1953. With this purchase,
an era ended for the Center Rutland community that dated back to the turn of
the century. At that time, as far as we can determine, the Vermont Marble
Company remodeled the first floor of the residence into an athletic club
facility mainly for their employees and family members who worked in the
Center Rutland plants, The club consisted of a main reading room, card playing
room, billiard and pool room and complete marble shower and restroom facilities.
Many of the men would use the showers as thsese were better than their own
household bathing conditions. The Center Rutland Athletic Club baseball teams
for many years used the building as their clubhouse for changing into their
uniforms before and after games.
One memorable event etched in my mind was when I was 11 years old, a group of my
friends were playing touch football on the old Center Rutland Post Office hill
on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Hamlet Terenaini came across the street from our
clubhouse and informed us of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We were all
too young to realize what an impact this news would have on our country for many
years to come. For my generation, it was our favorite meeting place for
recreation with friends, but with the advent of more and more automobiles and
modern times, attendance declined to the point whereby the Vermont Marble
Company decided to close the club and they sold it to Mr. and Mrs. James Moran.
With this sale went over 50 years of many pleasant memories for the Center
Rutland residents.