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	Photo by Bill Green The Dielman Inn building on the square corner of Main and High streets in New Windsor sits vacant.

Situated in the heart of New Windsor, the Dielman Inn hosted artists and musicians. A building behind it served as a school and then Calvert College. In its day, guests gathered in its gardens and summered near the famous Sulphur Springs said to have healing powers.

Now this New Windsor landmark with history dating back to the 1840s has an uncertain future. A recent auction emptied its contents, its rooms are vacant and even the Boxwood Antique shop that used to bring life to the building has closed its doors. The Cairns family is hoping the town of New Windsor can find funding to buy and preserve the building before they put the landmark for sale on the open market.

"My hope is that as much of the history that can be kept will be kept. It is arguably the most historical building in the county," said Bob Cairns.

The inn was started as a tavern in the late 1700s by Isaac Atlee, who owned much of the town of New Windsor. He eventually sold the lots that now make up the Dielman Inn property. In 1864 Louis Dielman bought the property and ran a hotel out of the building.

"Louis Dielman was a music teacher at Calvert College and he bought it to help support his family," said Bryce Workman, curator for the New Windsor Museum. The inn attracted guests who offered a variety of nightly entertainment including vaudeville performances, lectures on poetry, music and skits.

The Dielmans converted a brick building located behind the inn as a school, into a large dining room for the inn. There was a beautiful garden and fountains in the backyard and the inn turned into a summer retreat. Louis Dielman's brother Henry was an accomplished musical professor teaching at Mount St. Mary's College.

Louis Dielman ran the hotel until he turned it over to his children in 1904. Son, Louis Henry Dielman, operated the building as an inn until 1926. The Cairns, who had been living in the nearby Methodist parsonage, took up residence at the inn in 1946 at the offering of Louis Henry Dielman.

"He was almost like a third grandfather," said Elizabeth Ann Stonesifer (formerly Elizabeth Ann Cairns.) "In the summer he would have former inn guests come back to stay and we would have interesting summers."

Great place for kids

Bob Cairns said he remembers switching bedrooms to get away from noisy guests. He said there were rooms in the building that he never set foot in until the 1960s.

"We pretty much had free run of the place. It was a unique childhood," he said.

In the gardens, Cairns said he remembers having Easter egg hunts with silver dollars in the lucky eggs. He remembered throwing his first pitch on a mound in the backyard and caring for nine ducks he named after Yankee baseball players. There was Spooky the dog, HowsYourBird the parakeet and George the hamster. He got his hair cut at the barbershop in the building and said he would look under the stalls in the latrines to find "sensible shoes."

"This was the 1950s. It was pushing Norman Rockwell. It was a very peaceful, fun place to grow up," he said.

The Cairns acquired the Dielman Inn from Louis Henry Dielman upon his death in 1959. Julia Cairns (Elizabeth Ann and Bob's mother) ran the Boxwood Antique shop there until 2003.

Now the building stands vacant, and the town of New Windsor holds a proposal from the Cairns family to buy it. A recent auction of its antiques filled a tractor-trailer and two 16-foot box trucks. The auction brought in more than $60,000, according to Randy Dickensheets of the Pa. OnSite Auction Co. A pair of red striped wooden barber poles drew the most cash at more than $6,400.

The Cairns family is offering the building to the town or the New Windsor Heritage Committee for $288,000, according to Mayor Neal Roop.

"We are investigating it," he said. Town officials are talking about taking advantage of a three-year interest-only loan from the New Windsor Bank and applying for grant funding to help in the purchase and renovation of the building.

"We would like to see it preserved, but they know we have a scale to balance the residents' taxes. The council doesn't want to spend a whole lot of money," Roop said.

Roop said renovation estimates have been around $500,000 and higher.

The Cairns family said they are giving the town until Dec. 1 before making the property available on the market. Roop said he doubts the town will be able to meet that deadline.

"They can't wait for us forever. We are watching our money. We have enough on our plate financially now," he said, pointing to a major wastewater treatment plant project in the town's capital improvements plan.

Bob Cairns said he's hoping the buyer will recognize the building's historic past and find a way to honor that.

"Mr. Lou (Louis Dielman) would love to let people know what went on there when it was in its heyday," he said.

As the unofficial town historian, Workman said he has high hopes for its preservation.

"We would prefer to see it restored -- at least the exterior," Workman said. "It would be a shame for it to be torn down with all the history it has. Nowadays history doesn't count as much as money does."