Ramona Town Hall ~ Ramona, California
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 33° 02.666 W 116° 51.869
11S E 512652 N 3656221
The Ramona Town Hall, also known as Barnett Hall or Town Hall of Nuevo, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 6, 1994.
Waymark Code: WMAJ9Q
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/20/2011
Views: 5
From http://www.ramonatownhall.com/
"The Ramona Town Hall was donated to the town people of what was then Nuevo on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1894, by Augustus and Martha Barnett. As the story goes, Augustus thought it improper for dances to carry on all night at the school house, and that the growing town needed a place to serve that purpose as well as a library.
Construction on the two story edifice began on July 11, 1893 on two lots donated by realtor Milton Santee, and was completed in February 1894 at a cost of $17,000. (Later that year, at the insistence of Mr. Santee, the town was renamed Ramona, to capitalize on the popularity of the fictional character from the best seller by Helen Hunt Jackson.) The Barnett's established an unpaid five member board of trustees in perpetuity to administer the operation and upkeep of the Town Hall. For the past 114 years, the Ramona Town Hall has operated solely on private donations, fundraisers, grant moneys, and rent collected for use of the building. The Ramona Town Hall is not owned by the Town Hall Board of Trustees, nor is it a public agency. The restoration work that has taken place in the past 20 years has been funded by county administered C.D.B.G. and P.L.D.O. funds, along with private donations. The work completed to date includes a complete seismic retrofit of the entire front portion of the building, installation of new plumbing and electric wiring in the front, a new roof over the entire building, façade replacement, and fire sprinklers throughout the entire building."