NORWAY – As Norway officials and residents grapple with how to reclaim the vacant, dilapidated, privately-owned 115-year-old Opera House, others who have done it say it’s not impossible.

“I think persistence is the biggest thing,” said Renee O’Neil, project manager for renovations at the 112-year-old opera house in downtown Biddeford.

Biddeford’s richly ornamented 1896 building, now known as City Theater, shares space with City Hall departments. Over the years it has been host to some of the biggest entertainment acts of the time. But by the mid-1970s, O’Neil said the ceiling looked like one huge nicotine stain, the city was using it as a storage facility and a load of sand had been dumped in the orchestra pit turning it into a horseshoe court.

It was a story heard time and again across Maine, including Norway, where the life of its 1894 Opera House in the downtown National Historic District threatens to be snuffed out by neglect. It is a common story in many Maine communities where 19th century opera houses eventually burned down or stood neglected.

Today, a handful of opera houses have been restored and are witness that, with perseverance, a community’s cultural and social legacy can be preserved.

The crisis for Boothbay Harbor’s 1894 Opera House began in the 1970s when organizations that had previously contributed rent began to leave, and the town abandoned the building for a new one. Although it was sold to a private entity with hope of drawing a pavilion of small shops, it never drew the crowds, said Barbara Rumsey, director of the Boothbay Region Historical Society in a history she wrote of the building that once hosted grand balls and theater acts.

“It was at risk at being razed, and people said this is not going to happen,” explained Cathy Sherrill, managing director of the Boothbay Harbor Opera House. “People valued it for what it brought to this community.”

Through local fundraising and several big benefactors, the $1.2 million mortgage was paid in 2006 and the building continues to operate 12 months a year with a mix of community theater and other events.

In Camden, the opera house opened in 1894, hosting acts such as Mae West and Tallulah Bankhead, but by 1993 the building needed repairs to continue its operation.

“I was on the Board of Selectmen at the time. It was an awful time (for the Opera House.) It needed a lot of work,” said local historian, author and lecturer Barbara Dyer, now 84 and a lifelong resident of Camden. “At one point they said it was a white elephant. Sell it. I’m so glad we didn’t.”

Camden had a community willing to back the restoration, including the Friends of Camden Opera House and a private benefactor, the chief executive officer of MBNA, who summered there. When residents became overwhelmed with the project, a substantial donation from the MBNA official was all the inspiration they needed to continue the work.

Dyer said the project took off as other benefactors began to donate money.

Today, the Opera House, which also houses municipal departments, operates on its ticket sales, donations and an annual municipal budget of about $160,000. It is home to sold-out shows, annual conferences, civic events and even school plays.

Biddeford’s 1896 Opera House was saved as a result of concerned residents forming the nonprofit City Theater Association and starting fundraising. With the annual budget of about $30,000 from the city for capital improvements, the group chipped away at bringing the theater up to code.

“We had a wonderful partnership with the city but we also worked with contractors at cost,” O’Neil said.

Then the group got what O’Neil called a “shot in the arm,” when the city’s economic development manager put together a successful HUD grant and they received $200,000. That money allowed the restoration of the horsehair plaster ceilings, stencils on the ceiling and walls and more.

“Had we not received that grant from the federal government, I don’t know where we would be,” she said. The work caught the state’s attention and the association landed a $10,000 grant. Private donations also began to roll in: $5,000 to re-create the large brass chandelier and glass shades; and $80,000 for an awning out front, the new marquis and front doors and lobby.

“It took many years but once it got going, it got rolling,” she said.

Today, there is still work to be done, but the City Theater Associates has recently hired an executive producer and opened the theater year round.

“Even when other things are not going well, the Opera House brought people into town who would not normally come in. They are investing in downtown. It’s been an economic boost to the community.”