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Volume 052-3 - July 1998 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
em™building. There was to be a construction
that, because of the low purchase price, it would favor a
move to levy a special tax for maintenance of the Veterans
Building.
ver, On July 24, 1931, Howard Bennetts received a phone call
informing him that American Legion commander Gerald
Crispin had failed to return home after attending a building
committee meeting on the previous night. He had been seen
on Mill Street after the meeting, so Bennetts thought the
commander might have worked late and left for an early
trip to Sacramento to complete details involving the building.
He went to the legion headquarters to see if Crispin had
left a note, but upon opening the door to the Legion Room
at the Grass Valley Library, Howard Bennetts found his
friend and comrade had hanged himself. Four letters written
to family and friends by the deceased were found on the
commander’s table, and his glasses, neatly folded, were
placed nearby. In the letters the deceased man declared that
the American Legion building program details were getting
to be more than he felt he could handle. The American
Legion members grieved the tragic loss of a hard working
and dedicated legionnaire. The cost of the Veterans Building could no longer be measured only in terms of the hard
work and money involved.
On August 18, 1931 the ground breaking for the new building was held. The
company of Burton and Reed had been
awarded the contract to construct the
clerk on the site at all times and final approval of all jobs was given to construction
engineer Loyle Freeman, representing the
Legion, and M. Solberg, representing the
architect, W. E. Coffman. Other contracts
were awarded to Alpha Hardware Company (roofing), M. L. and D. Marsh (lumber), Grass Valley Hardware Company,
Dudley Eldridge (Plumbing), Leland
Painter’s Electric Shop, and Diamond
Match Lumber Company. McKinley Lotz
and Cutler Plaster received the contract to
install the ornamental casts and friezes.
Other contracts were to be awarded
later, with local bidders given preference.
Luther Marsh, whose brother owned the
Marsh Lumber Company, later stated that
his brother feared the Legion would bankrupt him on the
lumber contract due to the fierce negotiations on price. The
Legion members knew how difficult it would be to complete the building with the finances available.
The building was to be a concrete structure of the latest
eetype of construction, with an auditorium measuring 75 by
90 feet that would contain 1500 people. Contractor Burton
said 250,000 feet of lumber would be used in the construction work; along with 4,500 sacks of cement, 45 tons of
NCHS Bulletin July 1998
steel and 800 cubic yards of concrete. The auditorium was
designed to be adaptable for public meetings, theatricals,
and basketball and other athletic contests staged by local
organizations. In addition there would be a full sized stage,
a banquet room seating 500, two meeting rooms and a boys
recreation room.
A very elaborate lighting system was included. The
plumbing was to be “strictly up to date and designed to
eliminate all the usual later difficulties sometimes experienced in large structures of this type.” Ample storage
room was promised, and a new “innovation in wall effects,
which had proven very economical” would be used in the
principal rooms. The building was to be heated by a hot-air
system using oil as the fuel. This system also could be used
for cooling and ventilating in the summer.
The grand opening of the new Memorial Building was
observed by Post 130 on April 23, 1932, when a crowd of
750 couples was on the dance floor and 500 additional
spectators were in the gallery. The Grass Valley Concert
Band opened the festivities. Then the beautiful maroon
stage curtains slid back to reveal a ten-piece orchestra ready
to provide excellent music for the dancers. An intermission
The stage and dance floor they appear today. (Photo by Bedford Lampkin.)
at 11:30 p.m. was used by the Legionnaires to impress the
audience that there was a serious side to the opening festivities—the lights in the hall were extinguished and the stage
curtain parted again to reveal the American Legion Drum
and Bugle Corps in full uniform on the stage. They rendered a stirring march followed by a selection from the concert band. Suddenly the lights on the stage were dimmed,
mellowing the colors in the folds of Old Glory, and in a
perfect silence a bugler blew taps in honor of the men who
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