Group seeks nonprofit status to move Victorian-style structure.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

HANOVER – Plans to move the historic Gardner Roberts Memorial Library from its cramped space on the Howard Pond Road to the town office lot are still moving ahead.

In fact, the library association got a whole new set of officers at its annual meeting last month, said Town Clerk Clem Worcester. Lawyer Deirdre O’Callaghan took over the reins as president, replacing longtime President Ann Morton who has moved out of town; Donna Worcester is vice president; Vicki Fimiani is secretary and Paulette Booth is the treasurer.

Money for moving the Victorian-styled tiny library has been the problem. Several thousands of dollars are needed, but hopes are still high that it will eventually be moved to a lot where electricity and running water are available.

Worcester said yard sales have netted about $1,400, and the now defunct Knights of Pythias has promised another $1,000 once plans solidify.

Grants are what’s really needed. But to apply for them, the library association has to achieve official nonprofit status, and that step takes about $5,000, Worcester said. One way to become nonprofit is for the library to join with the town.

Worcester said selectmen are considering such an action. Final approval must be granted by townspeople at its annual town meeting, which has been held in November in recent years. The plan would be to give the library to the town that would, in turn, lease it back to the library association, so town ownership wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything.

In the meantime, the new slate of officers has had an evaluation conducted of the books lining the shelves of the library. Some have been found to be quite valuable, Worcester said. A few may be sold to help raise funds for the move. Trustees are also planning a day to clean up the thousands of volumes in the one-room library.

Five more trustees are needed. Anyone interested in becoming a part of the organization is asked to contact the new president.

Worcester hopes that someday, a part of the library will become a museum to house artifacts he and others have been collecting on the town’s history. And plans for a museum are also tied to Worcester’s hope for the establishment of a Hanover Historical Society.

South Shore Road

Selectmen held a final public hearing Tuesday night on a request to provide winter maintenance of the mile-long South Shore Road, a dirt road that carries vehicles along part of the shores of Howard Pond.

Selectmen have long maintained that bringing the road up to standard, and then plowing it would be too costly for the town. Currently, seven or eight permanent homes are located on the road. These homeowners subcontract snow plowing.

Worcester said an initiated article could be brought before the annual town meeting asking for town funding for road maintenance. He said the town would have to pay about $15,000 a year to plow the road, and thousands more to bring it up to standard.

Hanover Cemetery

When residents Helen Dolloff and Barbara Lapham asked selectmen to restore some of the damaged stones in the Hanover Cemetery, they found themselves the two-person committee to look into the costs involved in such an undertaking.

Worcester said some stones in the cemetery, located about a mile west of the town office on both sides of Route 2, have fallen over or been knocked over, deteriorated because of age, or have been damaged in some other way. Some stones date back to the late 18th century.

The town conducts routine maintenance for the cemetery, as well as maintains veterans’ graves.

Historical photographs

David Worcester, a retired elementary teacher and native of the town, has been spending some of his retirement gathering old photos and postcards of town subjects. In recent months, he has put some of them on his computer and printed them out. About a dozen are now on display in the town office.

As a former teacher, he said, he likes creating bulletin boards.

As time goes on, he hopes to create more 8-by-10-inch black and white photos of such things as the old Hanover schools, Howard Pond and some of the camps, the main street, and the once prosperous dowel mill.

Some of the photos now on display at the town office may appear as part of an exhibit the town may put together for the first-ever River Valley Expo, scheduled for Sept. 26 and 27 in Rumford.

Clem Worcester said the Gardner Roberts Memorial Library Association may join with the town. Selectmen haven’t definitely decided yet whether to participate.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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