Free to the Right Person:
Randolph’s Historic Coal Sheds

Elinor Gray of Brookfield is engaged in a one-woman campaign to save a neglected part of Randolph’s historic "railroad village"—the rail-side coal shed and silos.

And to save the sheds, which she owns, she’ll happily give them away.

"Coal pockets," once a common feature in railroad towns throughout the Northeast, are now rare. The coal shed in Randolph, built in the early 1900s, is one of only three such structures still standing in the state, according to state historic preservation officer Eric Gilbertson.

What makes this example especially valuable, added Gilbertson, is that it’s part of Randolph’s remarkably intact "Depot Square Historic District." The district, on the National Register of Historic Places, also contains the 1877 brick railroad depot (now The King & I) and the 19th century wooden freight house across the tracks (The Stagecoach offices and depot.)

Elinor Gray, who is active in the Brookfield Historical Society, has more than a historian’s interest in the coal sheds.

She and her husband Sheldon Gray, who last year sold their Randolph Coal & Oil business on Salisbury Street, still own the coal sheds on the other side of the tracks, on L Street.

Shel Gray stored coal in the sheds when he first bought Randolph Coal & Oil, but the building hasn’t been used in many years. Gillespie Fuels, which purchased the business, wasn’t interested in the sheds, "and we’re paying rent on something we don’t need," Elinor Gray said.

Some folks have advised her that the best solution would be to tear down the building, but Gray is committed to finding some way to preserve this part of Randolph’s history.

The coal shed, now worse for 90 year’s of wear, could be a valuable addition to the depot district, if it were repaired and "secured," argues Gray. The building is now vulnerable to vandalism, she notes.

The wooden shed had a close call three or four years ago, when firemen successfully put out a small fire, apparently started by trespassers.

To advance her goal of preserving the sheds, Gray has personally plowed hours into researching historical documentation and possible funding sources. She’s contacted selectboard members, local and state historians, the Randolph Area Community Development Corp., and others about the project.

One of her contacts has been historic preservation officer Eric Gilbertson.

According to Gilbertson, there’s a good chance that the sheds could qualify for funding, thanks to their relative rarity, and because they are part of an already-preserved district.

Funding sources, Gilbertson noted, generally require that the property be owned by a municipality or a non-profit organization.

The Grays, said Elinor, would be happy to deed the property over to the town, or to an organization, such as the Randolph Historic Society, but so far, haven’t found any takers.

The town, in fact, actively investigated preservation of the building five years ago, as part of revitalization efforts after the three devastating fires in the downtown in the early 1990s, noted Laura Morris of RACDC.

A Restaurant?

Local architect David Shepler was asked to evaluate the building and to suggest ways to re-use it.

Shepler, in a 1996 report, concluded the building itself is reasonably sound and that renovation into a restaurant or retail shop was feasible. A bigger—and potentially expensive—challenge, he suggested, would be removing residual coal dust to make the building habitable.

Gray, who concedes that re-use is probably not an option, argues that the coal sheds, as part of the town’s railroad history, still ought to be preserved.

Randolph, already an Amtrak stop, could become a "railroad village" tourist destination, complete with walking tours, she said. The district, Gray added, would also help the community’s children learn about their local heritage.

Randolph Selectmen Peter Butterfield and Dennis Brown not long ago looked over the sheds, at Gray’s urging.

Butterfield said he is aware that the Grays are willing to donate the property, in order to help preserve it. The problem, he says, is that neither the town nor the historical society has the resources to take the building on.

The selectboard, which has never formally voted on the Grays’ offer, would discuss the offer again if potential grant funding were found, he predicted.

A complicating factor is that the shed and silos sit on railroad land, noted Eric Gilbertson.

"It’s hard to invest in a building, when it’s on leased land," he explained. Still, he remained upbeat.

Coal sheds, like grain elevators in other towns, may not be candidates for creative re-use, but, as "as indicators of what business was," he said, they are worthy of preservation.

The rambling, unpainted shed in Randolph, with its complex shape and varied rooflines, is distinctive, even "picturesque," Gilbertson added.

"Some things," he commented, "are just really worth saving, even if you think you can’t use them again."

A first priority for the Randolph shed, Gilberetson said, would be stabilizing the building and securing it from trespassers.

History

The coal shed on L Street was built around 1912 by Richard B. Osha, according to a Feb. 3, 1994 article in The Herald of Randolph by Beth Champagne.

Champagne cited local historian Wes Herwig, who reported that Osha added the two cylindrical storage bins in 1919.

Coal, delivered by rail, was off-loaded into the bins, and then delivered by horse and cart—and later by truck—to users.

Osha sold the business in 1924 to Alfred C. Wells. High on the rail-side of the building, the lettering, "Randolph Coal & Ice, Co., A.C. Wells, Prop." is still visible.

Within the sheds, Champagne reported, is a small concrete room that served as a gas-generating plant. Calcium carbide pellets were converted to gas, which was apparently piped around town to light streetlamps.

The building, with its "complex monitor roof and cylindrical storage bins built of banded staves, is a rare example of silo and flume technology which is vanishing from the United States," according to the "Register of Historic Places" inventory for Depot Square.

By Sandy Cooch