March 12, 1850 New Town Hall

From 1817 until 1849 the Annual town meeting was held at a home or hotel, alternating between the Hamlet of Covert and Farmerville (one of the early names for Interlaken). One of the resolutions passed each year was the location of the following year’s meeting.

The April 6, 1847, meeting recorded the 1848 “meeting to be held at Pratt’s Corners, (house not specified).”

“At the annual Town Meeting held in the Town of Covert April 4,1848, the following persons were elected officers of said town…” (Note, the exact location is not included.)

Later in that same meeting after approving constables to be elected and commissioners of highway to be elected, “Voted That this Town will have no town house. Voted that the next annual Town Meeting be held at the American House in Farmerville.”

The 1849 minutes begin in the same manner, “At the annual Town Meeting…March 13^th, 1849…” The fourth resolution was very different, “Voted that the next annual Town Meeting be held in the Town Hall.”

What is not recorded are the discussions that took place between 1848 and 1849.

Town of Covert Town Hall corner of East Covert Road and Route 96
Date unknown, but Route 96 is a dirt road.
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #1802

The building was used for town meetings, elections, group meetings and as a gathering place. In 2006 as the Interlaken Historical Society was preparing for the Hamlet of Covert Tour, we met in the building. While it is no longer used today, it is still one of the symbols within the town, and part of the Hamlet of Covert Historic District.

Beginning with the 1850 minutes and forward, no longer was there a resolution needed to designate the location of the next meeting.

How much simpler was life back then, only one town meeting, and the election process was much quicker as well. But they also had to elect 20 or so men to take care of portions of the roads.

Dewitt’s Diary March 12, 1950

Temperature 32 this morning and 24 tonight. Cloudy and a little rain in the night and a half inch of wet snow on top of the old.

Bunny, Tip B, Leland and I had a fox chase on the new snow. Started a red on the Tunison square east of Townsendville and Bunny shot it on Batty Corner south of town.

Sixteen pheasant out front of the house where I am feeding them this morning.