An Historical Background

A bit of history is in order as we shoulder the struggle to keep this valuable resource afloat in our community. The 1800’s saw amazing changes in our town. Not only were the three large churches built on the Common up on the Hill and then two moved to South Acworth, but there were two stores on the Hill. The two stores were the Brick Store between what is now Guy and Aija Russell’s (and formerly John and Audrey Putnam house) and Daniel Robinson’s Store in what was recently Evelyn and John Clowe’s brick house across the street. In South Acworth there were also stores: Grammie Knight’s, Joseph Dempsey’s, and lastly, the Union Hall which is now called the Acworth Village Store.

During this early era, the following buildings were built as the Town grew and responded to change. Numerous mills harnessed water in the Cold River in South Acworth and population moved off the hill to follow the work:

• The Congregational Church (“Church on the Hill”) was built in 1821 with the Town Hall to follow, using old timbers from the original rough Meeting House as it was torn down.

• The Baptist Church was built on Lynn Hill on what is now the old Mitchell Cemetery. It was moved to the Common in 1844 and then down to its location in South Acworth in 1867. Some records say it was dismantled and some say it was pulled by teams of oxen front and back to keep it steady down the steep hill.

• The Methodist Church was built on the Hill in 1844. Within 10 years, due to the success of mill operations along the Cold River in South Acworth, this church was also moved down the hill where it sits across the river to this day. Again, a large building was moved without mechanical means. The Methodists declined in numbers and finally closed their church in 1920. Within two years, their building became the home of the Cold River Grange after their own Grange Hall was lost to fire. After many years, the Grange declined and the Town approved funds to paint three sides of it, then to replace the roof shingles, then to remove the steeple in 1987. Then, in 2001, the Acworth Historical Society agreed to take ownership of the building to restore it and perhaps house historical artifacts and collections of the Town.

But in between the buildings and movings of churches and industry came the Civil War of 1861-1865. Acworth and the entire country lost many men and boys to battle and even more to disease. Historians now say that more than 700,000 people died in those few years. Women, children, and the elderly shouldered the work at home as well as sent bandages and food to the Union troops. With President Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, a mere two weeks after the Confederacy surrendered, it is impossible to imagine the despair of the entire country. Yet, during this despairing time, Acworth citizens built the Union Hall, what we now know as the Village Store. If ever there was a time for dark discouragement, those years following the Civil War and the country’s first assassination of a president must have been it. This building was named, perhaps, for the Town’s united efforts in its construction and the North’s determination that our country would remain a union: The Union Hall. The Union Hall, now known as The Village Store, was originally built as a community gathering place for public gatherings, church services and town fairs. It had a dance hall (the vaulted ceiling is still in place on the third floor). The building represents resilience at its deepest levels and this energy is still at work.

Whatever was needed to help the town heal and grow seemed to happen in this place. This building represents community. The Union Hall remained standing as the last store in town after the Brick Store on the hill burned in 1915 and Grammie Knight’s store closed in the 1950’s. Here we are, with all of the comforts afforded us that our predecessors never had. Here we are, with the same hopes and dreams of those former residents who wanted to keep a community gathering place in their midst. Here we are. This is cause for celebration! Acworth came together and build this Hall for the union of community in the uncertainty and sorrows of 1865 and beyond, and in that spirit we continue to this day.

-  by Debby Hinman