Church holds its last service Cost of building forces closure

PORTLAND – A 200-year-old congregation has held its final service at the Chestnut Street United Methodist Church, setting the stage for construction of 38 loft-style condominiums on what is now the church parking lot.

The main church building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, may be transformed into an interfaith center or be converted into office space.

In past generations, more than 800 people congregated at the church, located near City Hall. But the numbers declined, with only about 35 members attending services regularly. The high cost of heating and maintaining the church became unsustainable, prompting the decision to sell the property.

Factors that led to the decline included the growth of the Portland suburbs, changes in transportation and changes in society as a whole, said James Young, who served as minister during the 1980s. As fewer people turned out on Sundays, more of the weight fell on remaining members.

“We just couldn’t afford it anymore,” Young said.

Vicki Swenson was among the more than 50 past and present members who turned out for the final service Sunday morning.

“I was married here, my sister was married here,” she said as she glanced back at the altar after the pews emptied and the final hymn was sung. “My daughter was married here just this past summer. I don’t know how I’m going to let it go.”

For at least the next several months, the congregation will share space at the Etz Chaim Synagogue. Members will decide if they can afford to buy a smaller permanent space on the Portland peninsula, or if they want to merge with another Methodist church in the city.

“The important thing is to keep us together,” said Irma Baker, who was married here in 1948 and whose parents were married at the church 21 years earlier.

During the service, the Rev. James Dodson acknowledged the sadness of leaving Chestnut Street, but asked parishioners to embrace the transition. He also thanked Etz Chaim for inviting the church to share space.

“We think it is an act of public witness, in this time of religious hatred around the world,” Dodson said. “We are so grateful to them.”

The congregation started in a home on Chestnut Street in 1795. The church was built in 1812 and remodeled in the 1850s.

But the details that made the church so magnificent – the towering wooden arches, stained-glass windows and an organ that dates to the 1830s – turned it into a burden that could not be maintained.

The developers have proposed selling the church to Interfaith Maine for $300,000 less than the original asking price of $900,000. An eight-story condominium building still will replace the church’s parking lot, gymnasium, community house and two apartments.