MANCHESTER — From Daniel Webster's birthplace in Franklin to the USS Albacore Memorial in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has preserved pieces of its history for the appreciation and instruction of future generations.

Now, the official State Register of Historic Places may also include the rest rooms that lie beneath Veterans Memorial Park.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will be asked Tuesday to approve putting the Merrimack Common Public Comfort Station on the register.

“It is an amazing piece of social history,” said Lisa Mausolf, a Reading, Mass.-based historic preservationist who prepared the paperwork for the historical designation. “It is a piece of time gone by.”

Built in 1911 as a “public convenience station,” the subterranean bathroom was as opulent as it was convenient, reflecting both new standards of urban sanitation and the pride communities took in public structures.

It is a commodious commode, built of marble, oak and brass, with eight stations for women and 18 for men, and facilities for an on-duty attendant.

After serving the public convenience and necessity through parts of eight decades, the facility became a victim of the urban decay of the 1960s and '70s. The end came abruptly some 40 years ago, after the one-time source of civic pride developed a reputation as a subterranean lair for unsavory activity.

In recent years, the facility has served as a storage bin for long-forgotten Elm Street Christmas decorations.

Proposals to dig up the comfort station were sidetracked when, because federal money was involved, red flags were raised over its historic status.

A sort of bathroom archaeological viewing of the comfort station brought surprises to the city planners who went down below for a look.

“It's stunning, it's almost like it was abandoned in one day,” said Jennifer Chambers of the Parks and Recreation Department, the official owner. “It's eerie, the floors and partitions are in amazing condition, so are the fixture and even the nickel pay slots on the doors.”

Back in the day

When work began on the comfort station 101 years ago this month, Manchester was a prosperous mill city, a leader in the Industrial Revolution in America, and a company town whose proprietors viewed civic adornments with the same sense of grandiosity with which they viewed their miles of riverside mills.

Civic structures were intended as much to be boasted about as to fill a need. The comfort station was installed near the shadows of the ornate Gothic-revival City Hall built in 1845 as Manchester celebrated its imminent designation as a city.

“It was designed 'in-house' by a city employee to create a local rest facility solution which was both practical and aesthetically attractive,” City Planner David Beauchesne wrote in a letter on behalf of the Manchester Heritage Commission recommending that the site reclaim its long-forgotten status.

Then-Superintendent of Public Buildings George Hammond, a builder and draftsman in addition to being a public figure, designed the large and ornate facility.

“The (professional) journals that he would have been reading showed that cities were looking at need for rest rooms as a public health concern,” said Mausolf, who noted that the subterranean nature of the station was somewhat unusual for the time.

The finished structure was worthy of being brought to the attention of public works officials across the country.

“There are walls of white enameled brick, stall doors in varnished oak, gray Tennessee marble partitions, prism skylights,” Mausolf said.

The comfort station's possible eligibility for inclusion on the list of historic places comes in two officially designated categories: (1) It is considered a significant part of social history as representative of the early 20th-century movement to giving government a role in protecting public health. (2) It's architectural stylings are appropriate.

The aldermanic Lands and Buildings Committee endorsed the designation of the rest rooms as a historic site.

“I'd like to see them preserved,” said Alderman Ed Osborne, chairman of the panel. Osborne says the historic designation could open the door to restoration aid.

“I think it was a good idea they came up with, using the rest rooms for activities going on a Veterans Park,” Osborne said.

Work needed

While well-preserved, the infirmities of age and neglect can still be found. The structure needs to be cleaned out, the plumbing and electrical services need to be brought to current standards, and the two 1930s kiosks that cover the stairs leading to the legendary loo may be dilapidated beyond repair.

“In the coming year, we will strategize for getting funding for restoration,” Chambers said. “After it is fully restored, the idea is to open them up for events, such as Chili Fest.”

Parks and Recreation Director Peter Capano says rehabilitating the facility to its original use may be bit too ambitious.

“There are people who think it should return to functionality, but I'd like to see it cleaned up for tours,” Capano said.

The site was submitted for possible funding to the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, but that agency has no money to parcel out, since the Legislature has diverted revenues from fee surcharges at the county registries of deeds from that LCHIP preservation fund to other state purposes, according to Executive Director Dijit Taylor.

Eventually, though, a new generation will know what lies beneath the ornate ventilation stack standing opposite the Center of New Hampshire that they may think is a monument.

In some ways, it is.

“I had always been fascinated by it driving by on Elm Street, Mausolf said. “It wasn't until I was hired that I really knew what it was.”

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Bill Smith may be reached at wsmith@unionleader.com.