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LANDMARK RESTORED
BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 08/18/2008

WINDSOR -- When Polly Shaw and her husband moved to town, they found themselves much involved with the Order of Eastern Star and the Masons.

Shaw, 88, played the piano and became in great demand with the local lodges in the area.

After the death of her husband, and as the years went by, it became difficult to climb the stairs.

Many of the lodge halls installed a chair lift or physically assisted when necessary, so that she could get to the piano, which was always on the second floor.

One day while selling raffle tickets to raise money for a new lift in the Windsor Town Hall, Mary Ellen Peaslee, a member of the Windsor Town Hall Renovation Committee, met Shaw for the first time.

The committee has worked for the past three years to renovate the upstairs of the Town Hall on Route 32. The group has provided $90,000 worth of labor and materials to give the town the additional space.

Projects include the repair of walls, painting, floor stripping and sanding and the preservation of the hall's antique advertising curtain, along with a kitchenette, rest room, 75 new chairs and a fire escape.

The last project is the lift.

NETCo Inc. and Two Loons Trading Co. are assisting with a matching grant of $11,000. The lift costs $22,000 and the committee has already raised $3,000 for the match.

"I was soliciting funds and this lady drove up, watched for a while, went away and soon came back," Peaslee said. "She said 'I don't want a raffle ticket, but I do want to give you this.' She presented five one-hundred-dollar bills. My question was 'are you sure you want to do this? It's a lot of money.' And this is how she answered: 'I've saved this for a long time and now I know what I want to do with it. I want to give back to others because people have been so good to me over the years. This lift is needed.'"

The second floor of the Town Hall -- built in 1922 -- with its oak flooring, wainscot wall paneling and original tin ceiling, is where many graduations and weddings were held, along with political and social gatherings.

Grange 284, which has since disbanded, used to meet in this space, Peaslee said. She found old ribbons that the Grange won at the Windsor Fair dating back to the 1930s and framed and hung them on the wall.

It also served as classrooms when the local school burned down, she said, and after the new one was built but became overcrowded.

"I taught school for 29 years and we held classes there back in 1973 after the school here burned," said Town Historian Mary French. "The third grade was downstairs and the fourth grade upstairs."

Peaslee said she first became interested in renovating the second floor when she worked at the Town Office downstairs. At that time, the second floor was used for storage.

She approached selectmen and asked if they would allow her to organize a group and raise money to refurbish that space.

The first town hall, built in 1846, stood at the same site at the heart of the village. That building was lost to fire and replaced with a new structure costing $7,000.

At a dedication ceremony on Jan. 6, 1922, town fathers said "we dedicate this building to wider learning, better manhood, better womanhood and better citizenship. And may peace and prosperity attend this institution as it now steps forth into the life of the town."

Interim Town Manager Theresa Haskell said different boards and committees meet on the second floor, especially when there are large number of people in attendance.

But because it is not handicapped accessible, disabled people are excluded from attending and contributing to those meetings.

"Last night, we had the transfer station meeting with the Board of Selectmen," Haskell said. "With that many people, you can't hold it down here. We have to meet upstairs."

Richard Hagen, a former selectman, said he is quite concerned because the town is not in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

He said installing a lift is the only way the upstairs can legally be used.

"There's no handicap accessibility without it," Hagen said. "I have diabetes and a bad heart and I can't climb those stairs."

Hagen commended Peaslee for a tremendous job in refurbishing the upper floor of the Town Hall. He said she was able to get most of the work done without any cost to the town by using volunteer labor and donations.

"(The Town Hall) has been so important to so many people in this town," Peaslee said. "They have so many good memories."

So that more people can see the work her committee has done, Peaslee has invited Downeast Brass, a group of musicians from southern and central Maine, to perform. The concert is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Town Hall.

And now that the space has been given back to the town, she said any residents can use it for functions.

They just have to fill out a use agreement at the Town Office.

"They'll give you a form and you'll read the instructions and fill it out," Peaslee said.

"But if you lose the key, it will cost you $250. Because then they'll have to re-key the building."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811,

Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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