 Most Endangered |
2002 Maine's Most Endangered Historic Properties Learn about Maine's Most Endangered Historic Properties success stories! This year's Saved! property: Clarence Mulford House  Mill 4, Saco Island, Saco Endangered. Mill 4 is a part of the historic Saco textile mill district on Saco Island that was one of the earliest and largest mill districts at the time of the American industrial revolution. Built in 1841 and expanded periodically through 1880, the mill housed the production of colored shirting fabric. At over 190,00 square feet with impressive towers and massive windows, this structure is an excellent example of New England mill architecture that is deteriorating due to lack of use. Located adjacent to Saco's new Amtrak station, the building has remained vacant for 17 years and the City, a new Main Street Maine community, is urging the owners to redevelop or obtain partners who will. How to get involved: For additional information on the textile industry in Saco, Cutt Island, or the mill itself, contact: Mayor William Johnson, City Hall, 300 Main Street,Saco, ME 04072, (207) 282-4191, mayor@sacomaine.org; or Peter Morelli, also at City Hall, (207) 282-3487 or pmorelli@sacomaine.org
Abyssinian Meeting House, Portland  Abyssinian Meeting House, Portland
Endangered. The c. 1826 Abyssinian Meeting House was built in response to the growing need of Portland's African American community. The third oldest Meeting House in the country (superseded only by Boston and Nantucket), the Abyssinian church offered a center of support and encouragement to the African American community that promoted racial equality through antislavery activism. The building is one of the few in the Newbury Street neighborhood to survive the devastating Portland fire of 1866. The church was decommissioned in 1917, and the building was eventually sold and converted to rental units. Since 1991, it has been vacant and deteriorating. The Committee to Restore the Abyssinian Meeting House recently funded a professional Historic Structure Report and is gathering strength and seeking funds for its restoration.
How to get involved:
Old Town Meeting House, Freedom  Old Town Meeting House, Freedom In the works. Built in 1853 for town meetings, the Freedom Meeting House was the town’s first official public meeting place until 1945 when it was used for a time thereafter to store town trucks and fire department equipment. When nominated as an endangered property, the building was sitting vacant, and deferred maintenance, lack of funds and disuse had left it in poor condition. Meeting Houses were places of community decision and debate that were essential to a town’s development. This integral community link led concerned citizens and elected town officials of Freedom to vote to allow the Freedom Historical Group to pursue the possibility of restoring the building as it last appeared as a Meeting House. Based on a Building Conditions Assessment conducted in 2002—partially funded by a matching grant from Maine Preservation—the Historical Group is now working from a master plan for the building’s restoration and rehabilitation. To date, $11,200 has been spent on replacing the foundation, rebuilding the floor and securing the doors. Several grants, financial support from the Town of Freedom and small fundraising activities have helped fund the necessary work needed to stabilize the building. The projected overall cost for restoration and rehabilitation is $34,500. The building is currently not occupied due to the work in progress, but the planned use of the building is for museum space to display local historical items and to provide a meeting space for local civic groups. To get involved, contact Viola Greeley, Chairman, Freedom Historical Group, 12 Greeley Rd., Freedom, ME 04941. Or reach her by phone at 382-6195 or by email at vhgreeley@pivot.net.
Schoolhouses in West Bath and Limerick Endangered. One room schoolhouses are fast disappearing from the landscape, however, in many communities across Maine, one or more still stand as testimony to a previous way of learning.
Mill Cove School in West Bath The Mill Cove School in West Bath served that community from 1853 to 1946, and still retains many original features including blackboards and exterior siding milled at the nearby tidal sawmill. Recent road regrading inadvertently created a serious drainage situation that, combined with insufficient funds and a small group of caring citizens, placed the building in peril.
 Old Brick Schoolhouse in Limerick Endangered. The 1850 Old Brick Schoolhouse in Limerick still retains remnants of its large "globe" window, however, years of heavy use as a sand and salt storage building for the Department of Transportation have left the structure in a threatened state. Elected officials and local historical society volunteers are now working together to reclaim the historic integrity of this building as a future site for local history. The town of Limerick has provided a small amount of money for necessary building stabilization work. The large, heavy doors installed by the Department of Transportation have been removed and lighter, temporary doors installed in their place. How to get involved:
 Shields Building, Pembroke Endangered. Currently located on the Pembroke Fairgrounds, this c. 1830 building has served the community of Pembroke in multiple ways over the last 170 years. Named after Isaac Shields, a mercantile that acquired the building at the end of the 19'h century, the Shields building has served a variety of functions since its construction. It has played an important part in the development of the salt industry in Pembroke in the 1830's when it as a salt mill. Isaac Shields used the building as a general store in the late 1800's and since that time it has served as a storage facility for different organizations. The building contains many unique elements such as Hackmatack "ship's knees" (exceptionally strong timber braces used often in ship building.) The structure was relocated in the late 1950's to the Pembroke Fairgrounds for use in auctions and patriotic celebrations, and closed in the 1990's when it was considered unsafe. Concerned members of the community are rallying to rescue the building so that it will be preserved for future generations and survive the next hundred years of change. New in 2003: The Bangor architectural firm QA13 produced a building conditions assessment report for the Shields Building to help fund the society's efforts. Funding is urgently needed.
How to get involved:
2008 Endangered List | 2001 Endangered List 2007 Endangered List | 2000 Endangered List 2006 Endangered List | 1999 Endangered List 2005 Endangered List | 1998 Endangered List 2004 Endangered List | 1997 Endangered List 2003 Endangered List | 1996 Endangered List |
Although a 19th century textile mill, an African-American Meeting House and the home of the creator of Hopalong Cassidy appear to have little in common, they're linked by an unfortunate distinction: they are all endangered historic treasures that contribute to define Maine's irreplaceable heritage. These are three of the seven sites that Maine Preservation named to its 2002 list of Maine's Most Endangered Historic Properties. "These sites serve to remind us that throughout Maine, the special places that tell our stories are unique and must not be allowed to vanish," said Roxanne Eflin, former Executive Director of Maine Preservation. "From Fryeburg to Freedom and Saco to Pembroke, historic places are often the victims of neglect, lack of funding or use, or outright demolition for redevelopment. These issues demonstrate two important points: that character-defining historic buildings must often adapt to changing market demands in order to retain their value to a community, and that well organized local activism is essential in order to protect these properties for future generations," she said. Begun in 1996, Maine Preservation's "Endangered Properties" program has grown to include 50 sites, including three thematic categories of barns, neighborhood schools and downtowns. While a listing does not ensure the protection of a site or guarantee funding, designation helps to raise awareness and spotlight the need for an "organized rescue", in Eflin's words. So far, seven sites including the Great Bowdoin Mill (Topsham), Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary (Portland), and Seguin Island Light Fresnel lens have been saved and thus removed from the list; only two sites have been lost to demolition (the Delta Sigma House at Bowdoin College and the Mason Estate in York). 
Maine Preservation is the statewide private
non-profit preservation organization dedicated to preserving and protecting
the irreplaceable architectural heritage, historic places and communities
of Maine through advocacy, education and outreach. For more information
on Maine's Most Endangered Historic Properties or other programs including
technical services and educational conferences, contact Greg Paxton, Executive
Director, at (207) 775-3652, via email at maineprs@gwi.net,
or write to 500 Congress Street, 2nd Floor, Portland, Maine 04101.
|
