The

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Gardiner, in

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States uses the former Gardiner Schoolhouse as its

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It is located on

US 44 U.S. Route 44 (US 44) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for through four states in the Northeastern United States. The western terminus is at US 209 and New York State Route 55 (NY 55) in Kerhonkson, ...

NY 55 New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a east-west state highway in southern New York, running from the Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state line at Wingdale. It is the only other state ...

at the east end of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Gardiner, and houses all the departments of town government, the town court and a branch office of the

New York State Police The New York State Police (NYSP) is the state police of the state of New York in the United States. It is part of the New York State Executive Department, and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 civilian members. History The State ...

. It is built in the Queen Anne

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

, painted green and white. The building began life as a one-room schoolhouse rolled into the hamlet on logs in 1875. Fifty years later it was one of the few buildings to survive a fire that destroyed many other buildings in the community. It remained in use as a school, expanded to two rooms, until 1981. The town began using it shortly afterwards, but it served mainly as a meeting place for the town board. Other offices were housed elsewhere in the town, often at the

firehouse __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective eq ...

across the road and an office plaza downtown. In 2000 it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, and the town began to seriously consider renovating and expanding it. Some residents did not believe that was necessary, and helped defeat a $1.5 million expansion plan in a March 2001 vote. A vote later that year limited the town to $850,000 for any renovation or construction. Three years later, a new

town supervisor The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local services in the State of New York. The state is divided into boroughs, counties, cities, townships called "towns", and villages. (The only borou ...

, Carl Zatz, initiated a project to renovate and expand the building. It caused some controversy when other town officials and residents publicly expressed doubts that the work could be done for the minimal costs Zatz claimed it would. It was completed for what Zatz's

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

says was less than budgeted.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

opponents, however, criticized him for destroying the school's

outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...

in the process.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Former school buildings in the United States Buildings and structures in Ulster County, New York School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Ulster County, New York Queen Anne architecture in New York (state) School buildings completed in 1875 Gardiner, New York Defunct schools in New York (state) City and town halls on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)

See also

References