The Finnish Hall was the primary gathering place for Socialist Finns in Newport, New Hampshire. They called themselves the Finnish Hall, so that it could act as the hall for all the Finns, but the reality was that it was mostly for Socialist Finns, and anyone who was interested. The temperance Finns had their own hall, and the communists had their own hall as well. The reason that separate halls were needed was because, “Apparently the Socialists wanted nothing to do with the temperance people and the temperance people were equally disdainful of the Socialists…”[1] This rivalry would remain up until the last Finns started to leave and/or become more integrated into mainstream Newport.
The name of the hall was the Winter Street Hall, and the socialist Finns were determined to outspend and build a greater hall than the temperance movement. So they, “in a game of one-up-man-ship the Socialists built their hall bigger, with more frills and a mortage that wasn’t paid off until the 1950’s.”[2] As mentioned earlier on the website, this hall was sadly demolished.
Previous Page: Finnish Halls
Next Page: The Temperance Hall
[1] Turpeinen, 42.
[2] Turpeinen, 42-43.
Photos are from The Richards Free Library 58 N Main St, Newport, NH. 03773. 603-863-3430.