The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-07-12
Bradford Loses the Odd
Fellows Home.

regulating the location of the Odd Eel.
lows Home for the state of vermont
came last week Wednesday bv an OF
fer from an unexpected source thai
was simply overwhelming in its mu-
nificence, and settled the matter IN ia
yor of Ludlow, that had been practl-
callv decided by the unanimous voice
of the committee in favor OF Brad
ford. The only loophole being that
the transfer of the property here had
not been made. To explain the sltua-
ton clearly we quote from letter re-
ceiyed from Col. Hall, chairman OF
the committee:
Il presume ere this you have seen
through the medium of the Associated PresS
the result of the Home business as con-
sumated at Ludlow Tuesday. The only re-
greet have in this matter is that we are
obliged to give up the idea OF gong 10
Bradford, and | presume no words OF mine
will express more thoroughly our sincerity
towards YOU and the brothers at Bradford
than to say that the great regret our whole
Committee had was that we could not 10
cate on that beautiful site in the Connectl-
cut valley that you proposed 10 give us
there in Bradford, but you must remember
that here is building equally as well To-
Gated from the scenery standpoint as your
all Completed containing about thirty-tye
rooms finished in hard wood, frescoed to
the extent of some $500, and the land or
some fourteen acres. In an interview win
Mr.. Gill, the owner, we put the matter be-
fore him in such way that ne proposed 10
give us the whole matter as it stood with
out any consideration whatever. L think
if you had been in my place you would
have felt it was for the best interests OF the
Order both for the present and future 10
have accepted this most magnanlmous
proposition of Mr.. Gill, who, as you know,
is not member of our Order. 1t Is a gl-
gantic undertaking, and the jurisdiction OF
Vermont should assume today matter that
will not only reflect great credit upon it,
but will keep it abreast of the times. 1t is
small jurisdiction, but by this step we have
placed ourselves in front of Jurisdictions
older, and larger, and more thoroughly
qualified to maintain Home, and whose
needs are far greater than ours. The prop
erty to-day is worth twenty thousand dol
lars and it would take many hard Strug-
gle and long years of delay before members
of our jurisdiction who are Jealous could
be brought where they could donate money
to even place US where we are to-day
through the munificence of Mr.. Gill;"
The question has been asked many
times, .HWhy was there such delay in
making the transfer of the property
here" We again quote from the Com
mittee, under date of June 10th:
"You desired me to inform you why the
Committee on location of Odd Fellows
Home do not settle upon site, and thus
end the anxiety. | beg to say that there
are many reasons, but among them one of
the most prominent is as between Rutland
and Bradford there is one point that is hard
for us to overlook. You well know that
Rutland has perfect sewer system, while
Bradford has not. In your village we UNI
derstand that you have no sewerage at all
only what you construct temporarily by
sinking cess pools. This will be a very i'm
portant thing for us to decide, ahd l think
we had some talk about sewerage when
there, [ wish you would let me know by
return mail just how the matter stands, for
we certainly shall not want to put the
Home at Bradford unless there is posi-
bility of sewer system in your village.
Will YOU kindly write me by return mail,
as the Committee are going to get together
very soon and try and settle upon loca-
ton"
Again, June 18th, Col. Hall writes:
"Our Committee met last night, that is
the majority of it, and practically decided
upon location of the Home provided some
things can be arranged that we deem very
necessary We propose to hold this deciS
ion for a short time, in order to hear from
you in regard to matters that mention.
First, the matter of sewer. The sanitary
conditions of the Home is one of the things
we must take into careful consideration,
and we believe that without proper sewer
facilities it would be impossible to have
proper sanitary conditions, and we want
the assurance that sewer will be built.
We shall also want right of way from the
Home down to the depot off from our own
land. and that will have to be provided for
legally so we can have entire control of it.
You will understand what mean, as the
land we propose to take does not extend
clear to the depot property. We have de-
cided informally if everything is arranged
satisfactorily, to locate on the Peters lot in
Bradford, but as | said before, | want you
to keep this strictly secret, but write me i'm
mediately in regard to the right of way to
the depot, and the sewer business. And
also let me know If we are right in sup
posing that there is a hydrant connected
with your village water works near the
Home, we think there u.s.
Here is another written June 10Th:
Il presume that our good Brothers and
the people of Bradford are waiting to know
the result of the investigation of the Odd
Fellows Home Committee in regard to loca-
ton of same. We have had recent meet
ing, and taken under consideration the sites,
and everything being equal we shall GER
tainly give the preference to Bradford; but
there is one thing that seems to be an in
and that is the matter OF sewerage that L
spoke to you about when we were there.
You must understand that in an institu-
ton of this kind, the sanitary conditions
are one of the main features to be observed
by this Committee, from the fact that unless
the inmates are kept perfectly healthy it
will make it extremely expensive to the Or
der, and poor sewerage will create an I'M
sanitary condition of things to higher de-
gree perhaps than anything else. And we
are very anxious before making our final
decision in this matter to know what will
be the exact condition of affairs there. We
know that there has been some agitation of
the matter of sewerage in your village, but
do not feel that it would be judciOus for us
to settle upon this matter until we know
beyond a doubt just what they are going to
do. The matter of cess pools or temporary
sewerage facilities in my opinion would
not be the proper thing for us to take
under consideration. While we think you
have beautiful site, we still feel that we
should have the assurance from some au-
thority that should we decide to locate there
this part of the business would be care
fully attended to. | note what you say
about the Peters lot extending to the rail-
road, that will be all right We did not un-
derstand that it extended to the railroad
line. Our impression was that you had