That until about 1942, the Lanesville Community Center building was the Ahola Dairy Barn? The Lanesville Community Center was founded in 1954 by a forward thinking group of neighbors who purchased the old dairy barn to use as a gathering place for the residents of Lanesville, and it remains a prized possession of the community. Consisting of a main building sitting on 2.7 acres of recreational green space and managed by a board of directors, its purpose is to assist, encourage, promote, and undertake such activities as will contribute towards the educational advancement of adults and children in the community in the areas of art, local history, agriculture, and emergency preparedness, and advance the social, recreational, physical, moral, spiritual, and cultural lives of its citizens. The Center has been the site of many a pig roast and clam bake, political meeting and square dance, as well as a haunted house at Halloween. Historian, Barbara Erkkila who wrote Hammers on Stone: A History of Cape Ann Granite and A History of Lane’s Cove, was the past secretary of the LCC and tracked all events held there for a period of about 40 years. The records are now in the archives at the Cape Ann Museum.
The Center is in the final stages of some pretty major improvements, funded by a $15,800 CDBG Grant from HUD through the City of Gloucester, and supplemented by a 60th Anniversary Capital Campaign. They have installed 2 new handicap accessible baths and a new kitchen area, and are currently finishing the new concrete slab with radiant heat floors. Pictured are volunteers Dave and Randy Young, Butch Roth and Jim Flint. Butch Roth created the stars in the floor, which will become memorial stars, the first being for Helen Jacobson who passed this winter at the age of 92. $1,000 in memorials was raised in her name. Jim Flint (you remember Jim from the Sacred Heart Church), has been the President of the LCC for four years, and expects that Phase 1 of the work will be completed by May 1. The Center will then be available to rent (at very reasonable rates) for weddings, parties, funerals, meetings, etc. The Center is also used for ward meetings and is the voting location for Ward 4-2, and is free for community service events. Art in Lanesville in August and the Lanesville Music Festival in September are also held at the Center.
The LCC is always looking for volunteers, so if you live in the area and want to help, or if you are interested in renting the space for a function or meeting, visit their website at http://www.lanesvillecommunitycenter.org/ for contact and rental info, and check out the video of Jim in the buff!
E.J. Lefavour
www.khanstudiointernational.com
Good Morning Gloucester 