Community

Committee Room beautifully preserved today with original wainscoting, moldings, floor, chandelier, sconces. Plus updated with HD-TV, fire doors, and emergency exit lighting and alarm. But where is that lovely wallpaper?

installed in the clock tower for Mariemont’s carillonneur to practice.

In the 1970s, MariElders occupied a room at the south end of the basement from 19771983. Alcoholics Anonymous continues to hold regular meetings dating back to at least the 1970s.

From the beginning, the Rec Building and Mariemont Community Church (MCC) histories have intertwined. The nondenominational church occupied rooms in the south wing for offices. In 1936, the church’s Sunday School classes moved from

Dale Park School to the building. In 1950, MCC took over the building on a 10-year lease from the Emery Memorial. Then the church purchased the building in 1954 and adopted a new name, the Parish Center.

The building also hosted the Village clerk’s office before the municipal building was constructed, as well as Village Assembly, League of Women Voters, Daughters of the American Revolution, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, Demolay, Total Parent Education, Mariemont Rec Association, Men’s Volleyball League, Men’s Basketball League, and the Von Oetter School of Ballet.

This brief article is surely missing countless other activities housed in the Rec Center over the years. If you remember or know of any you’ve heard about through family stories, please let us know by emailing mariemonttowncrier@gmail.com!

Next month will feature the building’s most recent major renovation and describe globally impactful work that takes place on what was the “men’s side” of the second floor. Meanwhile, on these cold winter nights, wouldn’t it be fun to meet up with friends for candlepin bowling? However, it might be impossible to pry teenagers from their gaming systems to work for tips as pin setters. Not to mention those darned OSHA and child labor laws and overprotective parents… Oh well, those were the good ol’ days!

*This article relied heavily on a similar piece in the February 1984 Town Crier by Fred Rutherford, a dedicated public servant, historian and preservationist.