NORWAY — More than 100 people gathered at the Norway Opera House on Friday to celebrate the reopening of its commercial spaces a little more than five years after a partial roof collapse nearly signaled an end to the historic 1894 building.

Representatives of the Norway Opera House Corp., Norway Savings Bank, Norway Downtown, town officials, project contractors, architects and others lauded the accomplishment during a two-hour ceremony and open house. Speakers said the restoration was fueled by determination, courage and a sense of community and history.

“This room is filled with heroes,” said Town Manager David Holt, who was credited by many others as a driving force behind the recovery of the iconic building that is considered the heart of the town’s National Historic District.

Commercial space is being leased after a $1 million renovation by the Norway Opera House Corp. to restore the five first-floor storefronts.

“Do you remember how we almost lost the building?” Norway Opera House Corp. member Bruce Cook asked those gathered in one of the newly renovated commercial spaces.

In September 2007, the 17,618-square-foot building’s first floor housed a restaurant and a beauty shop when pooled water caused a partial roof collapse. The water poured through the building, severely damaging the first-floor businesses and setting off the old Gamewell fire alarm. The alarm was heard shrieking throughout the downtown as firefighters rushed to the scene.

The building was declared in danger of imminent collapse by Al Hodson III of Resurgence Engineering and Preservation of Portland, who was hired by the town to assess the damage and oversee its stabilization plans.

With the backing of a $200,000 contribution from Bea and Bill Damon of Norway, the town took ownership of the colossal, rundown building after the owner failed to properly stabilize the building and refused to sell it to the town at a reasonable price.

Norway voters told town officials to take the building by eminent domain, stabilize the back wall and find someone else to take it over.

“This started because of a vote at town meeting,” Cook said. “We took it and ran with it.” The town deeded the building to the Norway Opera House Corp. in 2012.

Brian Shibles of Norway Savings Bank, who partnered with the town and the Opera House Corp. to oversee the renovation, said the reopening of the building’s commercial space was a great accomplishment for the town.

“It was the hub of commerce at one time,” Shibles said. “I think it can be again.”

On Feb. 1, following a five-month restoration of the first-floor commercial spaces by H.E. Callahan Construction of Auburn and subcontractors, the first of the commercial spaces was leased.

“What a moment in history,” said Roxanne Eflin of the Maine Development Foundation, who, along with other state preservation officials, was on hand for the ceremony.

Bea and Bill Damon, both in their 80s, were asked to cut the ribbon at the end of the speaking portion of the ceremony. Each took a pair of scissors and one by one cut the red ribbon. Then they turned to each other and smiled.

“Now all they need is a dance floor,” a Paris resident was heard to say as he looked up toward the second- and third-floor stage area where as a youngster he watched the grand dances.

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