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.