We’re
going to have a public hall we want you all to know,
We’re
going to have it by and by although it’s coming slow;
We
would have had it long before if we had had the dough,
While
we are marching to victory.
Chorus
Hurrah, hurrah, we’re soldiers brave and
strong;
Hurrah, hurrah, how do you like our song?
We’re ready to fight anything that doesn’t
come along,
While we are marching to victory.
We’re
going to wake this dead old town and build a public hall,
We
want the rich, we want the poor we want the great and small;
We’ve
made our minds to build of bust, remember one and all,
While
we are marching to victory.
Chorus
Hurrah, hurrah, “The Awkward Squad” are we;
Hurrah, hurrah, we fight for liberty;
Old Uncle Sam is proud of us as everyone
can see,
While we are marching to victory.
c.
Oct. 1, 1905
Originally opened in 1911 with a theater on the
upper two floors and a few town offices on the ground floor, the center, then
known as the Town Hall, has always been the center of cultural activities in
Old Saybrook.
The story of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural
Arts Center begins on December 5, 1905, a year and a half before Katharine
Hepburn was born. That day, a meeting was held at the home of Joseph Cone, printer, performer and
musician, for the purpose of forming the Old Saybrook Musical and Dramatic Club.
The meeting was a success and the Club was incorporated eleven months later
with a two-fold purpose; the presentation of theatrical performances and the
construction of a theatre to house these performances. By January of 1908, the
young corporation had raised enough money to purchase land and three and a half
years later, their dream was realized with the opening of the Old Saybrook Town
Hall, built for $20,000 on Main Street. The Deep River New Era, the paper of
record those days, called the new building, “a substantial and artistic piece
of architecture … a worthy addition to our beautiful Main Street.”
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