Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1906-02-16
A LIVELY BOARD
l MEETING IS HELD
Fight Comes Over
the Lot for the
Opera House.
PROPERTY SOLD TO ELks
New Building Will Be Erect.
ed at Once-..Other Inn
portant Matters Up.

After stormy session held in the
Office of Judge N. B. Laughlin last
night the Board Of Education, accept
ed the bid of $500 made by the local
order Of Elks for the lot in the Fort
Marcy addition upon which the fire
station is now located.
The lot will be used as a site for the
opera house which this organization
cOntemplates erecting. BY the terms
Of the contract for the transfer of the
lot, work must be begun by the Elks
within ninety days and the building
must be completed within two years.
The members Of the Elks' lodge, how.
ever. say that work will be started inn
mediately and that the new opera
house will be finished during the year,
1906.
The resolution accepting the Elks'
bid was introduced by General C. F..
Easley Only two members of the
boa-3 opposed the sale of the lot
which was in the form of donation,
as $500 represents less than half its
value. Chairman Thomas B. Catron,
was bitter in his fight against the
transfer. He read over the petition
presented by the Elks' committee
which had been signed by many tax
payers and we'll known business men
asking that the board act favorably.
Vote Taken.
Mr. Catron, it is asserted, character.
ICED The whole thing as foolishness
and said he would refuse to sign the
deed. The board nevertheless voted
to sell the lot to the Elks for the
sum Of $500
Judge N. B. Laughlin partly op.
posed the sale of the lot on the
gressutA 4tilT the Elks were asking
for more ground than they could use
He said that he was in favor Of civ.
ing them a suitable site but that he
did not believe with the resources at
ftheir command, they could erect a
building sufficiently large to utilize so
much land. The argument against Mr.
I.aughlin's plea was that If any por-
tion Of the lot were donated to the
Elks, the value of the remaining part
would be but little. as there would
not be sufficient room left for the cree.
tion of any substantial structure.
The opera house which it Is pro
posed to build was minutely described
in recent issue of the New Mexican
1t is to cost $4,000 exclusive of the
brick, lime and stone, the latter being
paid for by private subscriptions from
members of the Elks. The building
will be three stories high in front and
two stories high in the rear. 1t will
contain beside a comfortable theater,
a ball room, banquet room, apartments
for the Commercial Club and club
rooms for the Elks The structure
will be of mission pattern, rooted with
red tiing and will be very artistic.
Reject Bids.
| The board also rejected the bids for
the construction of the new school
house in the first ward because they
were not prepared according to plans
and specifications. There will be q
meeting of the board at noon, Satur
day, February "a, at Judge Laughlin' S
office, for the purpose Of opening 9th
er bids for the erection of this building
The new school house according to
the plans prepared by 7. H. Rapp, archi
tect, of Las Vegas, will contain two
assembly rooms rs feet by 30 feet
EACH. On opposite sides of the en-
trance will be two cloak rooms ten
feet by twelve feet each. The building
will also have basement suitable for
an adequate heating plant and coal bin
should one ever be needed. In height
the structure will be one story with
peaked roof, of metal shingles. The
main building will be built of peniten
! tiary made brick
/ New Sidewalks.
The contract for constructing ce
ment sidewalks on the Fort Marcy Ad
dition to the city, along the higf
school building property, was let tt
the firm of Corbett & Collins at 20 l.:
cents a square foot.
| The matter of constructing sewer
through the Fort Marcy Addition from
near the Palace Hotel to connect will
the Johnson Street sewer was dis
cussed and referred to the standing
committee on buildings and grounds
The committee was instructed to con
fer with property owners in this ad
ditlon and find out how many Of then
would aid In the work of the construc
tion.
This committee was also instructed
to employ engineers to set the grade
stakes for grading the grounds abou