Community Landmark Celebrates 130 Years
By Michael Kelly

On Sunday, June 30 at 2 p.m., New York’s renowned Blue Hill Troupe will present a concert version of their highly acclaimed rendering of Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, “The Mikado”, at Infinity Hall.
The concert has two purposes. One is to benefit the Norfolk Historical Society. The other is to call attention to the museum’s exhibit celebrating Village Hall, the forerunner of Infinity Hall and an indelible presence in the community for 130 years. “The Mikado” bookends the very first musical presentation at Village Hall in 1884, Gilbert & Sullivan’s, “H.M.S. Pinafore”, which was performed by amateur, local talent.
In the early 1880’s, when Norfolk was a prosperous manufacturing and farming town with two train stations, and before it became a summer magnet for city sophisticates, a group of enterprising local women recognized a need for a vibrant community center. Spearheaded by Mrs. T.H. Beardsley, an association was formed to raise money for a hall which would become one of the country’s first multi-use commercial buildings. They envisioned a place where Norfolk denizens could gather to enjoy music, hear uplifting lectures, hold meetings and socialize in the intimate theater upstairs, and then buy their groceries and sundries at street level storefronts.
Sponsoring “package parties” and a “pink tea”, the visionary ladies (including all four Eldridge sisters) raised $431.96 in 1882 to get the project started. After a $3000 stock offering, construction began in 1883 and by April 1884, the distinctive, formidable, wood-framed Queen Anne structure, “the prettiest anywhere,” according to the Winsted Herald, was complete.
On the ground floor, Charles Messick and Winthrop Cone opened their grocery and dry goods store next door to Kate Murray’s dressmaking establishment and Etta Jenks’s ice cream parlor.
With the beginning of World War II, the theater went dark for almost 60 years. Downstairs, the grocery store continued serving the community under a succession of owners: the Hollerans, O’Connors, Mubareks, Cliffords and Langs, et al.
In the late 1990s, Maura Cavanaugh, a playwright from Cornwall, acquired the building and proceeded to restore it. Renovations included replicating the original turret and rescuing century-old seats from abandoned horse stalls at the Town Farm. Cavanaugh brought the venerable theater back to life, but her business model floundered and the building went into foreclosure.
Dan Hincks, a successful businessman from Burlington, Conn., harboring a lifelong dream of opening a venue for live music, made the highest bid (sight unseen) at a foreclosure auction in the beginning of 2007. Immediately embarking on a comprehensive re-imagining of the historic building, Hincks installed a state of the art sound system, turned the basement into a luxurious ‘green room’ for visiting artists and created an award-winning restaurant fronting Route 44.

The Norfolk Historical Society’s 2013 exhibit will be a vintage celebration of Village Hall’s integral role in Norfolk’s community, culture and commerce over the past 130 years. Starting June 2, the museum on the green will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through the month of October. Admission is free.
Founded in 1924, the Blue Hill Troupe has raised over three million dollars for worthy charities. Tickets for the June 30 fundraiser may be purchased on Infinity Hall’s website, www.infinityhall.com, or by calling the box office at 866-666-6306.