In the small hamlet of Brentwood lies a building which encapsulates the proud history of a town and its people. The Brentwood Hall dates back to 1875, when it was the quaint two-room schoolhouse where local students learned the 3Rs. As time marches on, the building took on new life when it was purchased by the township for a dollar and became the Brentwood Hall.
It is hard to find anyone in our community from 9 to 99 who hasn’t celebrated something at “the hall”, be it a shower for a new baby or young bride, the ringing in of a New Year with dancing and singing, the bragging rights earned by winning a hard fought euchre or horseshoe tournament, a community supper where the breaking of bread between community members becomes a communion of friends and neighbours, or a family reunion where far flung family members return to the welcoming place that always remembers them. The hall well represents the people who built it. Their old fashioned willingness to work to make it a better place make its unvarnished charm much like the tin ceiling recently uncovered during renovations: proof that when regular people come together to work and live in community, amazing things will be discovered and restored.