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Piece of town's history welcomes back a tradition

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

ATHENS -- "Welcome, folks, to what is Athens history."

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Photo by Jeff Pouland UP FOR DISCUSSION: Dana Martin, right, chats with Mickey Courtemanche before the start of the Athens town meeting on Saturday.

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Photo by Jeff Pouland ITS A VOTE: Doug Malloy, back, and James Simpson, front, raise their hands to vote for article 19 to see of the town of Athens would appropriate $900.00 for a beautification project during the annual town meeting inside the historic 1907 Athens Grange hall on Saturday.

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That was the greeting Saturday afternoon by Athens First Selectman Bruce Clavette, who opened the annual town meeting in the historic 1907 Grange hall in the village center for the first time since 1983.

"Democracy in action, in it's purest form, has been said to be the town meeting," Clavette said. "And here we are, where we can make our voices heard."

And so it was Saturday. The Athens Grange hall was once again the site of the annual town meeting for the first time since the new elementary school opened across the road 27 years ago. Town meetings were held in the school gymnasium after that, but it lacked the comfort and sense of community that the Grange had offered, locals said.

The hall, once the center of social life in the downtown, including the popular Athens Victory Club's annual turkey pie suppers each November, was closed to public use in 2005, it's sagging foundation deemed to be unsafe.

The building was jacked up and moved about 40 feet to its current foundation in 2007. New stairs and a new porch have been built and the dance hall upstairs is being redone, as well.

A group called Common Grace Community Connection is working on raising money and generating interest in bringing the historic hall back to its rightful place in the community.

Clavette credited town historian and Third Selectman Guy Anton with spearheading the restoration of the old hall, which on Saturday was warmed with a new wood-pellet stove, it's molded tin walls and ceiling freshly painted a kind of off-lavender.

"I love it, we just found out at lunch today and said we've got to over and see what's going on there," said 81-year-old Edna Seamans. "It was fun here, nothing's ever been the same since. I hope they get back to it and stay."

Anton said the Grange organization has been in Athens since the 1880s. The first Grange meetings were held in the Oddfellows Hall before it burned in 1888, he said. Meetings were then held in McIntyre Hall across the street until the Oddfellows Hall was rebuilt. The present Grange Hall was dedicated in November 1907.

After the Grange went out of existence, the hall was sold to the town in 1976, Anton said.

"They started construction of this hall in 1905 and they completed it 1907," he said. "It took 10 years to pay for the building; in 1917, they made the last payment and in those days, that's going some."

The original location of the Athens Grange was close to the old bridge over the Wesserunsett, where the Athens Corner Store is now. The hall was moved the first time by Howard Boston around 1938, the foundation, then, too, had given away.

"I'm excited about it coming back," Anton said of moving the annual town meeting back to the Grange hall. "I feel it's kind of personal. I'm just hoping that everybody's happy with what's taking place."

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534

dharlow@centralmaine.com