New London preserves its heritage
By Sylvia Stern
This year the New London Heritage Historical Society turns 45.
The NLHHS hopes to start off its yearlong celebration with some articles about the group’s history.
The organization will also share news of upcoming events and create some special keepsake items such as 45th anniversary buttons and later special anniversary T-shirts with the NLHHS logo.
Organizing historical society
The historical society started on Oct. 13, 1977, with an organizational meeting of concerned citizens held in the New London Chamber of Commerce meeting room.
Officers were elected with Wendy Fischer as president, Debbie Roloff as secretary/treasurer, Carol Culver as vice- president, Eleanore Cooney, Pat McCoy and Leona Mech as board members.
By-laws were outlined and accepted.
The goal was to buy and preserve old buildings.
There was concern about old buildings suffering from vandalism and decay and they needed a safe place for them all to sit.
The current historical village site on Montgomery Street, which at that time had been mostly a fill and dump site, was purchased.
The first building was moved there in 1987. That was the 1923 railroad depot which now serves as the village headquarters and has electricity, heat, water and bathrooms.
Then the 1857 Triangle School, which had been part of the society since 1978 but suffered vandalism where it had been sitting, was finally moved to the village in 1990.
The 1868 Octagon House was moved twice in town before becoming part of the village. The chapel was moved to the village in 1991. The Simmons building came in 2009. NLHHS also acquired an 1850s Irish immigrant cabin.
The village also features a piece of railroad track that has a 1941 diesel locomotive, two cabooses, a box car, hand cars and lights.
After the first years, Leona Mech became president. She wrote regularly for the newspaper about historic moments in New London’s history.
Polaske’s legacy
Then for 33 years, Bob Polaske was the group’s president. He brought in train cars, a locomotive and many other railroad items that visitors can still find in and around the depot.
There will be a separate article in a future issue of the Press Star about Polaske’s contributions, dedication and hard work for both the society and the historical village.
Of course, attaining these buildings took money and man power from a lot of dedicated members and a supportive community.
There were many fundraisers over the years, such as raffles, bake sales, chili suppers, and special events such as the wild west shows, lumberjack shows, and rummage sales.
A new event last year was the Civil War reenactment that suffered the first day from too much rain. The August event focused on World War I.
This year, the Civil War reenactment will return on June 24-26. The August theme will be World War II. Plans are to have historical items and displays from that war at our village.
There will also be a number of smaller events in the works for 2022.
Read more detailed reports on events, each of the NLHHS buildings, the train cars, railroad collections, and the historic Thern Farm in future editions of this paper.
In the meantime, visit www.historicalvillage.org or check out Facebook @NLHHS.village for more information and photos.
Beginning in May NLHHS will have open houses two Saturdays every month. The last open house for the season is in September.
The New London Heritage Historical Society is always looking for new members or interested volunteers to help with its projects.