Fundraising for Sangerville Town Hall renovation project
SANGERVILLE — At the annual town meeting in March of 1901, the citizens of Sangerville appropriated $7,500 to purchase a lot and build a town hall. That would be worth roughly $300,000 today. The town hall they built was a three-story 48 by 80-foot wood frame building with a full basement and a full attic. It has a slate shingled hip roof with dormers. Several of the windows are stained glass. Much of the building still has original tin ceilings and hardwood floors and has retained much of the historical ornate woodwork that gives it tremendous character.
The first floor served many years as the town office, meeting space and the local library. The second floor was originally theater space containing a stage with multiple scenery panels and dressing rooms, (state of the art for the era). The third floor was balcony seating for the theater. The second floor also contains a full kitchen at the rear of the auditorium space. This space was used for decades as the auditorium and gymnasium space for Sangerville schools, for town meeting and a venue for many civic and social gatherings.
Several years ago, the upper floor use was discontinued because of ADA compliance. During COVID, the library closed permanently and in 2022 the town office moved to rented space at 93 Main St. because the Maine Municipal Association stated they could no longer insure the building because of a leaking roof and foundation issues.
In 2024 at the annual town meeting the citizens voted overwhelmingly to save and renovate this building if possible. They appropriated $440,000 to hire an engineer and begin the work.
Since 2024 we have done engineering studies on the building and repaired the roof. We have broken the project into phases, with the goal of phase one to renovate and make the first floor usable again and phase two being the renovation of the upper floors. The foundation work is the next work that has to be done before any further renovations can be undertaken and that is the most expensive. We are estimating that work alone, with the necessary adjacent groundwork to improve drainage to approximately $600,000.
We are working hard to complete this project with no local property tax dollars spent beyond what has already been appropriated; so, we are actively fundraising. One of our best opportunities for raising the funds we need to complete phase one and start on phase two is a Maine Historic Preservation Grant. We can possibly get $500,000 but we must have a 25% or $125,000.00 match for this grant which cannot be from tax money.
The town and the local historical society have partnered in this endeavor. The historical society has a two-fold interest in both preserving possibly our most significant historical structure in town as well as, when renovated, being able to move into the former library space as their new home. They have taken on the fundraising project to raise the $125,000 and have even pledged to sell their current building to help raise that money. To date they have raised approximately $25,000 cash and we believe the sale of the building could get us the rest of the money needed for the match. However, we know the more cash we can raise the stronger our grant application is and quicker we can complete the phase one renovations and begin working on raising money for phase two.
We are asking for help, not just of Sangerville citizens but of everyone who appreciates the value of preserving history and historical buildings as well as those who have a past connection to Sangerville and may be willing to contribute to our pursuit of saving this grand old building. Donations can be made to the Sangerville Historical Society, P.O. Box 284, Sangerville, ME. 04479. The Sangerville Historical Society is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.