By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

HARRISON – There was whooping overheard after some Lakeside Grange members received the news that the towering Grange within feet of Long Lake has been recognized as a national historic building.

“Woo-hoo,” Grange member Opal Gardner said after she walked into the building’s downstairs hall and was updated by Gail and Ken Butterfield.

The Butterfields are longtime participants in the Grange, which is owned by its 28 members. Gail Butterfield joined in 1959 when she was 17, and Ken joined in 1968.

But they are far from the oldest members. One 102-year-old woman has belonged to the Grange for 52 years, Gail Butterfield said, and there are a few others with commitments spanning more than a half-century.

Christi Mitchell, an architectural historian with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, said putting the Grange on the National Register of Historic Places is an honor for the owners and the community, and recognizes an institution that has played a large role in town life.

“The Grange is able to convey time and space, and that is the early 20th century,” Mitchell said. “The building itself is not an important architectural style; it is more important for what happened between its walls.”

Built by original members in 1905 to support an agricultural social order, the building has been tied to a variety of commercial and social activities during the past century, Mitchell said. It also is famous for surviving the big fire of 1907. And it hasn’t changed much – its gabled front and painted theater look much as they did back when the Grange was new.

The Butterfields pointed out the area inside the building where the town’s telephone operator was stationed from 1907 to 1922 to control the handful of telephone lines in Harrison and the few long-distance lines to neighboring towns.

Vaudeville theater, minstrel shows and also Saturday film matinees have been held there, as well as lectures, bingo games, dances and hunters’ breakfasts, Gail Butterfield said.

The building is so desirable that several real estate agents have approached Grange members asking whether they might sell.

They won’t, the Butterfields said.

But if membership falls below 13, Ken Butterfield said, the Grange will become the state Grange association’s property, and the statewide group could do as it pleases with the building.

At one time, most of the local families belonged to the Grange, Ken Butterfield said.

Being placed on the national register does not restrict owners in altering their buildings, but it does make them eligible for certain preservation grants or tax credits, Mitchell said. If the building is changed too much, however, it can lose its status as a historic spot.

In the area, two other buildings have been placed on the national historic register in the past year – the Caswell Public Library in Harrison and the Otisfield Town House. The Lt. Robert Andrews House in Bridgton is being reviewed, Mitchell said.