IN NEED OF REPAIR: Portland's Abyssinian Church. |
The fate of Portland’s Abyssinian Church has been to wait — through fire, through years of neglect, and now, through paperwork.Most of the changes in the planned restoration of one of Portland’s historical and architectural gems — also a landmark of national significance for its age and original purpose — are happening inside or on paper.
“It’s been a slow process,” says Leonard Cummings, chairman of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian (CRA). “And the perception from the community is that we haven’t been doing anything.”
But just this month, the group finished an initial eight-month-long round of interior demolition (just of non-original walls and floors) and conservation (of timber and original elements uncovered), and has put the building on the National Register of Historic Places. The group has also filed an application to get the site recognized as part of the Underground Railroad, a network of homes and churches helping escaped slaves make their way to freedom in Canada in the middle of the 19th century.
But coming up will be more visible action, including a return this spring of archaeologist Martha Pinello from the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, to continue and expand the dig she conducted in 2005.
And on February 25, at a time and location yet to be announced, the CRA will hold a public meeting to talk about what else is coming up for the historic building (e-mail info@abyme.org to find out where).
Built in 1827, the Abyssinian Church, at 73-75 Newbury Street, is the third-oldest black meetinghouse in the United States and was one of only a handful of schools for black children. It’s also one of the few buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1866, leaving it the only known surviving wood-frame meetinghouse in downtown Portland. The building was all but forgotten as the city changed in the early 20th century. The church closed in 1914 and was sold in 1917 to be turned into a junkshop and then apartments, and was finally abandoned and condemned in 1991.
In 1998, the city of Portland sold the building to the CRA for the symbolic sum of $250 — the same amount builder Reuben Ruby paid when he bought the land to build in 1827.
According to an anonymously funded feasibility report, the museum-quality restoration project will cost around $3 million to complete. The CRA, which runs on a volunteer staff and has received just over $47,000 including grants from several foundations and individual donors, has decided not to borrow funds for the project. “We’re examining the possibility of a capital campaign in April,” says Cummings. “But, we’re not doing anything we haven’t got the money to do.”
