Corinna completes plan for lodge

CORINNA – Selectmen completed the legal details this week that will provide a new location for the Stone-Ezel Lodge of Odd Fellows.

The historic lodge is the only building remaining standing on what was once a bustling Main Street in the small community on Route 7.

The lodge will be moved to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to proceed with excavation of the riverbed beneath the old building.

On Wednesday, Corinna selectmen deeded a town lot on Spring Street to the lodge. The land is around the corner from the hall’s current location.

Cianbro Corp. is scheduled to begin moving the lodge from its perch over the river Sept. 27 or 28. Roy F. Weston Inc. is the primary contractor for the EPA Superfund site.

The exact date of the move could not be confirmed. Town officials were told the process is scheduled to commence Sept. 27.

The move was scheduled regardless of whether the town finalized an agreement with the lodge for the Spring Street lot.

The agreement came about after lengthy discussions and negotiations. The process began nearly a year ago when lodge members began meeting with selectmen in anticipation of the move.

Initially there were concerns that the building wouldn’t survive a move and that it wasn’t worth The official word from the Maine Historic Preservation and the EPA, upon investigation, was that the building must be moved and can’t be torn down.

The building is one of the oldest buildings remaining in Corinna. Its shabby exterior hides an indescribably historic and ornate interior, according to town officials.

“It’s really something to see,” selectmen Chairman Steve Buck said Friday.

Although the new lot was deeded to the lodge, it carries a “sunset clause” that allows the property to revert to the town’s ownership if the lodge should cease to exist as a philanthropic organization within the next 20 years. With the advanced age of many of the current lodge members, town officials and taxpayers were concerned about the future of the property.

The structure itself, and any improvements to it, would remain the property of the lodge, its successors or the state lodge organization.

A process has begun between the Odd Fellows and Maine Historic Preservation that could ultimately result in the building being named to the National Register of Historic Places.

“We were sort of held hostage by this situation,” Buck said. “The [EPA] project had to move forward and they [Odd Fellows] needed a new home.”

The EPA is in Corinna to clean up the hazardous waste left behind by nearly a century of woolen manufacturing.

The former Eastland Woolen Mill was torn down and EPA contractors have been excavating the riverbed area south of the mill site to remove remnants of toxic chlorobenzenes.

By holding out for agreeable terms, the lodge not only is got a new piece of land, but the EPA also will move the building at government expense. The EPA will also construct a new handicapped-accessible basement, and provide accessibility to the first floor as well.

Participation has lagged in recent years because meeting rooms were located on the second and third floors. The first floor was rented out as commercial space to a second-hand shop. The upper floors, however, are among the most ornately adorned in the community, said Buck.

The walls are covered in wainscoting similar to that in the 100-year-old Stewert Free Library, also a Corinna landmark and historic site, Buck said.

The upper walls and ceiling are covered in patterned and pressed tin and original light fixtures and oil and candlelit spotlights remain. In addition, a wide variety of antiquated photographic and heating equipment is located in the building. The third floor housed a kitchen complete with an oil-fired cookstove.

An agreement attached to the deed requires the lodge to apply new siding to the building within a year of its being ready to occupy. The siding requirement is in keeping with the town’s land use ordinances, Buck said.