While the current tenants and owners of Damariscotta’s Lincoln Hall have made great strides in restoring the building’s integrity and appearance in recent years, a great flaw in its imposing edifice has been the deteriorating state of the roofline, in particular its eaves, which at the moment are occupied by pigeons who have been making the most of what the years of hard weather and decay have wrought. That is all about to change!

In the coming weeks, Damariscotta’s regulars can expect to be treated to Lincoln Hall’s metamorphosis and rebirth to its former grandeur as scaffolding grows up around the building, the roof is re-shingled and all the rotted fascias, gutters and soffits are restored to a functional approximation of the original design. The primary contractors involved are our own local Zander Lee, General Contractor (and crew),Victor Wright of The Heritage Company (specialists in historic preservation), Peter Chavonelle (Masonry Preservation Associates) and Bill Bunton (Bunton Construction). The work is expected to be completed by Memorial Day.

In 1875, a lot on Damariscotta’s Main Street sat empty but for a few gangly old apple trees. It was then that a dozen townsmen decided to build on that spot a grand, multiple-use building to house businesses on its ground floor and a great public hall on the upper floor. A small group of nine original investors put the plan into action; each put up $200.

That was the beginning of a project that stirred a great deal of excitement and civic pride over the next year as the plot was excavated, huge stones were brought in for the foundation, bricks from brickyards downriver were accumulated, granite was quarried, great timbers were sawed out in local mills, slate tiles were imported for the roof, and huge shipments of everything from cast iron columns and McGee Furnaces to windows and chandeliers were assembled to complete the vision of those twelve men.

Construction began in March of that year. Remarkably, the building saw completion in ten short months. Total cost - $28,500. In the expectation that all important events in Lincoln County would take place within its walls, it was named Lincoln Hall.

On January 26, 1876, there was huge celebration. People came from all over – Bangor, Portland, even Boston – to the Grand Opening and Gala Grand Ball and Dedication that evening. Tickets for the affair cost $5 per couple. So many people arrived that they would not all fit indoors, meaning many had to celebrate outside in the street in the cold night air. And they did!

1876 was the year of Custer’s last stand. Wild Bill Hickock was shot in a saloon. It was also the year Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was invented and the idea for the Statue of Liberty was born. There was no national anthem. Standard time had not yet been instituted. Damariscotta had become incorporated only 28 years earlier. The country was just 100 years old.

It really wasn’t all that long ago, 138 years, but it was certainly another age, since which a great deal has happened in the civilized world. And in that time Lincoln Hall has surely fulfilled its designed purpose. It has seen many businesses come and go, has served many uses (particularly in the great hall upstairs), and it has been used hard those 138 years. It has been chopped up, beat up, remodeled, added to, enjoyed embellishments, suffered indignities, seen fire and flood … and yet it still stands today on the front lines of the town’s hurly burly of commercial and cultural goings-on on Main Street. Today the Maine Coast Book Shop & Café is at street level, while the long-surviving, newly energized Lincoln Theater is going strong upstairs.

As co-owners, co-tenants and very cooperative neighbors, the theater and bookshop are thrilled to have finally reached a point where it has become possible to ensure the ongoing integrity of Lincoln Hall as its co-stewards.

Owners of Lincoln Hall are endeavoring to write a detailed history of the building. We are interested in any and all records that might be hidden away and, in particular, photographs of the early construction work, at this time, not a single one has come to light. Any information, tidbits, anecdotes and images would be of great interest. Please contact Barnaby Porter at the Maine Coast Book Shop, P.O. Box 309, Damariscotta 04543 or call 207-380-4846.