AUBURN – There’s just not enough room for all of the city’s mayors in the City Manager’s office.

“My thought is, we’ll pick the mayors who faced a particular challenge or who served during a historical period,” Manager Glenn Aho said. “We’re looking for mayors who served during moments of significant history for the city.”

Portraits of those mayors, rediscovered last year under a table in a room of the Androscoggin County Courthouse, will go up on the walls around the city manager’s office. Aho didn’t know how many portraits he would have room for, or which mayors would get the honor. They’ve been placed along the hallway in his office in the meantime.

“Right now, they’ve become something of a conversation piece,” he said. “We’re hoping to encourage that, to place them on display and show some of Auburn’s historical lineage.”

The city has 33 portraits in all, starting with Mayor Seth P. Miller, who served in 1870, through Lloyd H. McFadden, who served in 1933.

Mayor John Jenkins said he was touring the Androscoggin County Historical Society last year when he came upon the portraits.

“Every nook and cranny was crammed with something, and there were these stacks of framed photos, one on top of the other,” Jenkins said. They were loaned to the city six months ago and have been stored on Auburn Hall’s fourth floor since then.

Jenkins said he originally wanted to have the portraits placed on the walls around the Council Chambers. However, those walls are lined with panels that were not designed to hold any additional weight.

“So we’ve been having to think of other ways to get them on display,” Jenkins said.

Aho said he expected most would go on the walls surrounding the city administration offices, but more could go in other hallways through Auburn Hall.

“We’re at the point now, though, that we want to place at least some of them,” Aho said.