The new location for the Franklinville Town Hall is just up the street from the previous location. (Bob Sutton / Randolph Record)
FRANKLINVILLE – The new location for the town hall in Franklinville is open in a renovated bank building.
A ribbon cutting was held Friday with several dozen attendees on location at the building that opened in 1920 after construction began a year earlier.
The town offices have moved along West Main Street from the nearby building on the ground floor that houses the town library above. That’s next door to Franklinville Diner.
“It was the bank and the main office for the mill,” finance officer Beverly O’Brien said.
Mayor A.C. Hurley, a long-time town commissioner, said there were positive reviews.
“We had a big crowd there, especially on a Friday night,” Hurley said. “A lot of people really like it.”
Among the features that remain are the doors to the vault along with the vault. The marble also was preserved. There’s also a glass frame around the electrical box.
“It’s a beautiful old building,” O’Brien said. “We kept as much of the history as we could. We chose to save as much as we could.”
Yet it certainly has been modernized.
The Asheboro/Randolph Chamber of Commerce helped with the ribbon cutting.
Hurley, who’s in his second term, said he would have paused the relocation of the town hall in favor of other projects, but the board wanted to see the project through. Hurley said some groups, such as library patrons, were hoping to have the town address other topics.
O’Brien said the roof and windows were updated prior to the pandemic before the project was delayed – in part because price estimates came in too high, O’Brien said. Since then, she said about $215,000 had been appropriated for the project, which was largely spearheaded by town commissioner Billy Farias.
Hurley said designated funding through the state and Randolph County aided the project.
Farias obtained some of the furniture for the new location from surplus sales.
The town has slightly more space at the new location, while a bathroom facility that wasn’t available at the old location.
“This made it much more efficient,” O’Brien said.
Not all has been smooth since the move and ribbon cutting. This week, internet access was down much of Monday in that part of Franklinville and, among other things, that disabled the phone system at the town hall.
