Greenville landmark sold to museum

GREENVILLE – The Ready Workers held a tea party on Thursday, but the issues discussed at the Community House had nothing to do with a future craft fair or public supper.

Rather, it was a time to make arrangements to move out the collection of furniture and dishes amassed for more than 70 years.

The approximately 20 members of the organization, a branch of the Union Evangelical Church in Greenville, are selling the two-story Community House in the village to the Moosehead Historical Society.

The $150,000 sale is expected to be completed within the next few days.

“It’s kind of bittersweet to us,” Keyth Carter, Ready Workers president said Friday.

Carter, whose great-grandmother was a founding member of the Ready Workers and whose grandmother and mother also had served the volunteer organization, said members have had a great time over the years.

The Ready Workers have owned the building since 1931 when it was purchased from the Universalist Church.

Carter said the organization was formed to help the church and to serve the community by offering the building for public meetings and wedding receptions.

Countless public meals and craft fairs have been held by the Ready Workers to support the church, she said.

The sale was driven in part by the costly upkeep of the building and the fact that people have less time to volunteer at the functions, according to Carter.

She said members declined to have the building sold on the open market, fearful that it would be converted into apartments.

Helping the historical society bring a presence into the village and knowing that the building will be maintained is comforting to members, according to Carter.

The presence also is comforting to the Moosehead Historical Society, which expects that its visibility in the village will draw more people to its other museums on the edge of town.

“We’re most appreciative of the Ready Workers offering us the building so we can preserve it for the future,” Dr. Everett Parker, the museum’s executive director, said recently.

The 5,000-square-foot building will be renamed the Center for Moosehead History and will house the museum’s full collection of American Indian artifacts. The building also will house administrative offices, he said.

The second floor will house the museum’s library, but a large meeting area including the stage area will be available for public functions, according to the museum director. An elevator is part of the plan.

An engineering study has been completed on the building to determine its structural, mechanical and architectural needs, Parker said.

That study identified about $275,000 in cosmetic repairs needed to bring the building up to museum standards, he said.

To raise the funds for the sale and the repairs, Parker is applying for renovation loans and grants. A major fund-raising drive also will be launched.

“It will be practically impossible to complete the entire project without help from the local community as well as the museum’s 300 members,” Parker said.

This year’s annual appeal to begin next month will focus on the need for donations for the renovations in addition to the general operating budget, he said.

Anyone who wants to make a donation, or become a member of the museum can call 695-2909, e-mail history@midmaine.com, or write P.O. Box 1116, Greenville 04441-1116.