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Reliving, Reviving History: 99-year-old American Legion Hall being restored and rejuvenated in South Pittsburg
Catherine Brown sits on a chair inside the lobby of American Legion Post 62 in South Pittsburg, a huge smile on her face. The smile has been there for about the last hour.
All around the 86-year-old is a beehive of activity with volunteers cleaning bathrooms, sweeping floors and checking out the decorations, including the glitter ball hanging from the hand-hewn rafters, sparkling and ready for the seventh- and eighth-grade dance taking place later that evening.
Just a few months ago, the idea that anyone would consider holding anything but a demolition party in the 99-year-old building was unthinkable. A year and half ago, the roof leaked so badly, a main hallway near the kitchen was collapsing, ceilings were falling and the only inhabitants who felt safe in the place were the termites. And they were nervous.
The building suffered a good deal of damage in the flash flood of 2013 and has been in decline since. But on a recent Friday, Brown couldn’t stop smiling and she couldn’t stop talking about the building, which has been a part of her history since before she was born.
“My father [Bert Cook] helped build this place,” she says. “He sold them the land, too. And I attended first grade in this room.”