6/14/11 – Officials with the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce plan to take ownership of the city-owned building where their offices are located by the end of the month. The Chamber has been leasing the depot for 25 years but the Chamber Board and its membership have recently begun the process of purchasing the century-old building from the city. The Chamber’s Executive Director Phil Fritsche says the city will sell the building to the Chamber for $1 but retain the option to re-purchase the property if it ever goes back on the market. The Chamber will also pay the expenses of the sale, including closing costs and land surveys. He says that will allow the Chamber to focus its budget on needed repairs, including tuck-pointing, heating and cooling system upgrades, the addition of energy-efficient windows, refinishing the floors and installing a handicap accessible restroom. The Chamber is located in the former train depot on South Spring Street. Once a stop on the rail line between Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, it was closed in the years following World War and was acquired by the city about ten years later. For years it served as the Dodge County Historical Society Museum before they moved next door to the former Williams Free Library and the Chamber set up shop in 1986. The Beaver Dam Chamber will celebrate its own 100 year anniversary in 2013.
