Center Theatre awarded $77K for masonry column repair

MDF’s Maine Downtown Center is pleased to award a total of $600,000 through the REvitalizeME Downtown National Park Service Sub-grant program to four historic preservation projects. All four historic buildings are considered critical to their rural community’s economic development.

Among the recipients is the Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft, which will receive $77,280 for critical repair of the masonry columns. 

“All of these awards will support catalytic projects in Maine downtowns,” says Anne Ball, program director, Maine Downtown Center. “The program set out to drive the connection between economic development and historic preservation. These projects illustrate this in four unique downtowns in four different Maine counties and in four distinct building types: a former federal courthouse and post office, a theater, a downtown commercial building, and former jail. In addition to enabling owners to be good stewards of their buildings, these projects help sustain businesses and jobs in our downtowns, further supporting economic growth.” 

The four awards prevailed through a competitive process aimed at identifying new opportunities that will have a fundamental impact on economic revitalization and historic preservation.

MDF’s partner in this effort was the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. “We are pleased to be able to support rehabilitation work on several historically significant buildings,” says Kirk Mohney, director and state historic preservation officer. “The variety of buildings that received awards underscores the rich architectural heritage of Maine’s downtowns.” 

The REvitalizeME Downtown sub-grant program was funded by the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program of the National Park Service, Department of Interior. The objective of the program is to support the rehabilitation of historic properties that will drive economic development in rural communities.