By David A. Sargent,Special to the Sun Journal

LEWISTON – It all began with a $60,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie 103 years ago, but it was a bequest of $1 million a few years ago that brought the Lewiston Public Library and its new Marsden Hartley Cultural Center to completion.

Dozens of citizens and invited guests attended a grand opening and reception for the cultural center Sunday afternoon.

A quartet of three L-A fiddlers and a guitarist played lively Franco-American tunes and Joseph Theriault of Lisbon Falls, wearing a beret and seated at a bistro table, played a vintage accordion in sidewalk-cafe style. Refreshments were provided by culinary arts students of Central Maine Community College.

In his keynote address, Gov. John E. Baldacci called community centers for learning, cultural interaction and various local events “the new economic anchors” of our cities.

Rick Speer, director of the Lewiston Public Library, thanked library staff members, noting they survived three phases of construction.

“It’s finally over and the dust is settling,” he said.

The Marsden Hartley Cultural Center project completes the renovation and preservation of the historic Pilsbury Building, an Italianate structure originally constructed in 1870 and now on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

It is located at the corner of Lisbon and Pine streets. In recent years, the original library at Park and Pine streets was expanded from the back of the original building into the Pilsbury Building. The modern library, and now the Marsden Hartley Cultural Center, are reached from an entrance at Lisbon and Pine streets.

Sunday’s reception took place in the library’s main lobby where a large Hartley painting given to the library by the artist is displayed.

The grand opening speeches were in the third-floor Callahan Hall, where public performance events for audiences of about 150 will be held. That hall was at one time a downtown ballroom. Now, it features a spectacular renovation of many tall, arched windows with massive wooden interior-mounted shutters.

The million-dollar bequest to the library came from the late John E. Callahan, a Lewiston insurance executive. The city of Lewiston invested another $1.9 million in the project.

In addition to Callahan Hall, the center includes a state-of-the-art computer lab, two conference rooms and archival space for historic records of the Franklin Co., Bates Manufacturing Co. and the W.S. Libbey Co.

Access to this third floor complex is provided by a wide attractive staircase as well as an elevator, both designed so there is access even if the library isn’t open.

Speer said the Marsden Hartley Cultural Center Project is designed to address several major needs within the community. There are a few unfinished portions for which fund-raising will continue, he said. These include a kitchen area and related equipment for public events.

Philip Isaacson, Lewiston attorney, art critic, architectural expert and author, chaired the library’s Building Committee. “The Building Committee got great support from City Hall. It was clear that the city wanted this to be as fine a building as it could be within a reasonable budget,” he said.

Isaacson was a strong advocate for naming the center to recognize Hartley’s worldwide influence in the art world and to correct what he called the irony that Hartley has been essentially unknown in his native city of Lewiston until recently.

Hartley (1877-1943) is one of the top American painters of the 20th century. His works can be seen in museums around the world. He also was a noted poet.

Robert Silver of Schwartz/Silver, Boston, lead design architect for the project, said, “The Pilsbury Building itself was very challenging because it had a lot of distress. There had been a fire here in the past, there was roof damage and a whole series of problems. The biggest challenge was preserving what’s really a beautiful old building for the city.”

Other speakers included Maine state historian Earle Shettleworth Jr.; Jan Phillips, chair of the library trustees; 2nd District Congressman Michael H. Michaud; State Sen. Peggy Rotundo; and Lewiston’s city administrator, Jim Bennett, and mayor, Lionel Guay.

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