Murphy’s Town Hall Athenry 8 4th November 1911 – Connacht Tribune, 4th November 1911, page 7, carried the following under the heading In Gaeldom: “A meeting of the Galway County Board G.A.A. was held in the Town Hall, Athenry, on Tuesday Oct 24th, Mr. T. Kenny, VP presiding...” 17th December 1911 – Connacht Tribune, 16th December 1911, page 5, carried the following under the heading United Estates Committee: “An important meeting of the above will be held at the Town Hall, Athenry, on Sunday, the 17th inst, at one o'clock, pm sharp, when all delegates are expected to attend.” 6th January 1912 – Connacht Tribune 6th January 1912, page 6, carried the following under the heading PUBLIC MEETING IN ATHENRY: “A public meeting will be held in the Town Hall, Athenry, next Saturday; 6th January at 1.30. A number of prominent Nationalists have promised to be present, and the matters for discussion are of paramount importance to the farmers, ratepayers, etc. It is expected that & large gathering will be present.” 25th to 27th January 1912 – Connacht Tribune 20th January 1912, page 4, reported the imminent return of Mr George Mallin’s Pantomime Company to the Town Hall for 3 nights: “In Athenry, The week-end in Athenry will be made merry in the Town Hall... the enterprising and popular proprietor, Mr Richard Murphy... Mr George Mallin’s Pantomine (sic) Company have secured the spacious building for the night of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when three of their most artistic plays are to be produced.” 27th March 1912 – Connacht Tribune 30th March 1912, page 8, reported on a meeting of Galway GAA County Board in the Athenry Town Hall on the previous Wednesday (i.e. 27th March), at which it was noted that they had been availing of the Hall rent free for 4 years up until that point (i.e. since 1908) 14 and it was now proposed to pay Dick Murphy a small rent, (“Eventually it was agreed to give him 30s” for each such usage): “...Secretary: Well, this Hall was built purely for private purposes, and for the past four years, Mr Murphy, the proprietor, has been giving it to us free. I suggest that we now give him a small rent for it for the use of our meetings...” 15th June 1912 – Connacht Tribune 22nd June 1912, page 5, reported a production of the Athenry Junior Dramatic Club in the Town Hall: “ATHENRY JUNIOR DRAMATIC CLUB On Saturday night the Athenry Junior Dramatic Club gave their first rendering of a very interesting piece, entitled A Gentleman from Ireland, before a very crowded house... the audience was the largest seen in the Town Hall for a long time past, were held in raptures from beginning to end of the entire performance. The proceedings concluded with a very amusing farce, entitled Black Justice, which had the house in roars.” 15 15th September 1912 – Connacht Tribune 21st September 1912, page 5, carried a report about the Athenry Beekeepers meeting: “A meeting of the Athenry Beekeepers' Society was held in the Town Hall on Sunday, Mr. Wm. O'Reilly presiding. Also present: Messrs. Thomas Crowe, Patrick Mulcahy, Dunsandle; John Monaghan, Carnakelly; Michael Mclnerney, Gloves; Thomas O'Reilly, Athenry; Samuel Stokes, Balleymore; John Connors, Attymon; P. Hynes, Athenry; H Davidson, Castle Ellen. Mr. Crowe (Secretary) gave an outline of how the Society stood financially, and it was 14 Again, this suggests that the Hall had been in operation since at least 1908, which would be consistent with a construction date circa 1907 15 A Gentleman from Ireland was a comedy in Two Acts by Fitz-James O'Brien which was first performed at Wallack's Lyceum New York in 1854.
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