Black River Valley Club seeks members

The Black River Valley Club doesn’t need a multimillion-dollar capital project to save its building; it just needs a couple of dozen new members.

Manager David F. Boucher said the private club will be open to the public through Feb. 14 to provide tours, prepare lunches and dinners and educate people about the importance of becoming new members to help preserve the 107-year-old club at 131 Washington St.

“The membership has held steady, but prices of things have gone up and the building’s old,” he said. “Once it starts losing ground, it’s done.”

The three-story building isn’t in terrible shape, Mr. Boucher said. It has several new windows and other interior improvements. But without the new membership structure and recruitment of at least 30 new members, he believes the next 107 years may be in question.

He said the previous membership structure included monthly dues and minimum charges per month to be spent at the club for various membership categories. Now, there are only monthly dues ranging from $10 to $205 for the resident, Upham member, nonresident and nonprofit organization leaders. Members in the under-40 category will be required to pay only a monthly minimum charge of $75 to be spent within the club for event fees, dinners, lunches or other functions.

Board President Dr. David O. VanEenenaam wrote a letter to fellow members Jan. 3 informing them of the change. He said the board has met frequently to evaluate the organization’s financial position.

“If each one of us could interest at least one new member, our future would be assured,” he wrote in the letter.

Mr. Boucher said the Black River Valley Club was once considered an elite club, a “snobbish, upper-class place, but it hasn’t been that way in years.”

“They came around to realize everyone should be a part of it,” he said.

One thing the club has been known for — and wants to continue to be known for — is its charitable work. For only $10 per month, nonprofit groups can use the facility for no other charge. There are 50 nonprofit group members and four performing arts groups as members within that fee structure.

Not only would Mr. Boucher like to see 30 new members, but he also would like to see added improvements to the club. His hope is to provide a meeting space for local book clubs.

The former billiard room has been transformed into a cabaret room where the local theater groups perform. Mr. Boucher said they also volunteered their time to redo that room.

“People just don’t play billiards like they used to,” he said.

But the club didn’t get rid of the 1917 Brunswick 10-foot billiard tables. Members had them restored and moved to the back room, where they still can be used.

There are also many little secrets of the club that Mr. Boucher likes to highlight on tours. In the basement is a now defunct six-lane bowling alley he would like to turn into a wine cellar. The basement also is home to a former workshop, marble shower stalls, several storage rooms and small doors that lead to a tunnel underneath Washington Street. That access had been blocked long ago, Mr. Boucher said.

The first floor’s reading room is adjacent to office space, and down the hallway is a women’s meeting/dining room, a bar, the cabaret room and the kitchen. Upstairs is home to a front dining room that is open to the public for lunches, a few private meeting rooms, a members room and a ballroom that can seat up to 175 guests.

The third floor cannot be used because there is no handicapped access, so it serves as storage space. Decades ago that floor had bedrooms for club members if they needed a place to stay for the night. Mr. Boucher said an elevator is too costly now, but he eventually would like to have that floor renovated to become nonprofit office space.

Because the club’s utility bill averages $2,500 per month, he said, he eventually would like to see solar panels installed on the roof.

Several changes need to be made, and Mr. Boucher said existing and new members can make that happen.

“We lost the Woodruff Building, the Woolworth Building and the Masonic Temple is in trouble, and the Globe, too,” he said. “Except for the Historical Society, which has been preserved, and the library, this is one of the last buildings here of historic downtown Watertown with that historic flavor. It can be saved for thousands, not millions. It just needs usage.”

Membership benefits also include privileges at the Watertown Golf Club and membership in the Watertown Sportsmen’s Club and Sackets Harbor Sportsman Club.

For more information, call the club office at 788-2300.