PARIS — A distinctive downtown bell tower is missing its uppermost portions and wreathed in scaffolding as it undergoes the first step of a major renovation.

The Deering Memorial United Methodist Church on Main Street has raised about half of the needed funds for work on the tower, but opted to proceed with the restoration due to safety concerns. The structure will be temporarily capped just above a clock in the tower, and the rebuilding phase will begin once fundraising is complete.

The Rev. Dawn Mitchell, the church’s minister, said the mortar in the tower was so eroded that there was a possibility that stones would begin to come loose. She said the church has raised $145,000, enough to start the $300,000 project.

“Our main concern was to make sure that the building was stable and safe so we could continue welcoming people,” she said.

Work on the tower and buttresses began in December, and this stage is expected to be completed by the end of February. Stone Age Masonry of Sabattus has taken pictures of the tower and mapped the layout of the stones. The company has been numbering the stones following their removal, and they will be kept in storage until they can be remortared and put back into place.

The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, but Mitchell said the majority of the grants available through the listing involve steeple rather than tower reconstruction. However, the project did receive $50,000 each from the Thomas H. Maren Foundation and the church’s namesake Deering family.

The remaining funds were collected through individual donations and events including public suppers and concerts. Mitchell said that while economic conditions have made it more difficult to find grants as well as donations, the church had been active in raising funds during 2009.

“We raised a good chunk of that money just last year,” she said.

The tower’s bell has been removed during the restoration, but Mitchell said there are plans to see if it can be put back into the temporary capped structure. An automated carillon, which was restored to chime on the hour and quarter-hour, will resume playing once the first stage of the restoration is complete.

The Methodist Church in Paris was first organized in 1815. The first church building was constructed on the site during 1836 and 1837 and replaced after it burned in 1848. In 1909, the congregation decided to construct a new stone church. The lower story of the second church was sold and its lumber used to build a two-story block on Pine Street that was torn down in 1965. The organ loft was moved to Wheeler Street and converted into a house.

The stone church was built during 1910 and 1911 and used granite from Bryant Pond. The construction cost $24,000, with William Deering picking up $16,000 of the cost. Born in Paris in 1826, Deering later moved to Chicago and established the Deering Manufacturing Co., which in 1902 merged with four other companies to form the International Harvester Co. The church is named for his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Deering.

The Gothic-Revival church is the only known Maine commission of the architectural firm of Badgley and Nicklas based in Columbus, Ohio. It also includes opal stained glass windows devoid of human figures and hammer beam trusses with supporting arches in the sanctuary.

Church services are continuing during the construction, as are other group meetings held at the building. Mitchell says the congregation has 48 members with an average Sunday attendance of 27 or 28. Since last winter, services during the colder months have been held downstairs in the parish hall to save on heating costs.

Donations to the Deering Memorial Tower Fund may be sent to the Deering Memorial United Methodist Church at PO Box 356, Paris, ME, 04281.

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The bell tower at the Deering Memorial United Methodist Church on Main Street in Paris is being partially removed to remortar the granite stones.