Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

SOLON: Here is the church, here is the steeple...

Thanks to years of donations, ‘the little church that could’ has a new roof

By Erin Rhoda erhoda@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

SOLON -- One of the town's historic landmarks, the Solon Congregational Church, received a new steeple this past week after four years of door-to-door fundraising and help from hundreds of community members.

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PROGRESS: The Rev. Nathan Richards, center, speaks with Troy Brown, left, and Chris Ingersoll outside the Solon Congregational Church recently.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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LOFTY WORK: Troy Brown and Chris Ingersoll work on the railing around the ballast that the new steeple will sit on at the Solon Congregational Church recently.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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Construction workers assembled and installed the steel, flat-sided spire Thursday, which topped the 173-year-old church, located downtown on U.S. Route 201. The finishing touches will be complete this week.

"We're kind of the little church that could," the Rev. Nathan Richards said. With between 30 and 40 congregation members, they raised $48,000 for the work mainly through small donations.

One member, Anne Padham, collected donations by walking door to door. Another member, Troy Brown, completed the design and construction for half of what other contractors would have charged.

The roof of the church has been bare for four years, after rot destroyed the former steeple and it had to be removed, Richards said. It was important to replace the steeple, he said, because it represents the crowning of a social, religious and historic gathering place.

In addition to being the largest building in town, it hosts nearly every wedding and burial, he said. It holds music concerts and other events. It served as a place to pray and reflect after Sept. 11 and during World War I and II.

When the North won the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, people rang the church's bell so hard that it cracked and eventually was recast.

Although the building was not constructed until 1837, its members first gathered in 1796.

"Even people who don't attend here have some sense of pride about it," said Richards, who is also the minister of the First Congregational Church in Norridgewock.

The former steeple had a dome top that was originally constructed, in part, as a backlash to pointed steeples commonly used to adorn Catholic churches, Richards said. The new steeple is pointed, though, because it cost less to build.

From the lift used by Troy Brown Building Construction, workers had an aerial view of the town as they installed new railings and beams for the bell tower. On a clear day, they could see Sugarloaf. The bell tower supports the steeple, which was lifted by crane.

Attached to the lift by a harness, Brown pointed to one section of the church where a continuous, 40-foot piece of wood ran from roof to foundation, hand-hewn by ax. "It's amazing to see how it was built," he said.

Four years ago, church members were "devastated" to learn that their steeple was decayed beyond repair, due to persistent leaking and pigeon droppings, said Sheree Brown, the church's treasurer and Troy Brown's wife. It cost about $21,000 -- taken from investment funds and savings -- to demolish the steeple and solve the pigeon problem.

Richards said he is proud of his congregation and the community for not just contributing money for a new steeple "but for their patience, diligence and faith."

One state official said he is glad church members found the resources to restore the steeple.

Steeples are "prominent landmarks," said Kirk Mahoney, assistant director and deputy state historic preservation officer at the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Steeples were not universal features on rural churches in the 19th century, he said, and the ones that had them stood out.

In addition to hundreds of individual donations from community members, the church received larger donations from the Sukeforth Foundation and David and Mary Ellen Royce.

Erin Rhoda -- 474-9534

erhoda@centralmaine.com