MECHANIC FALLS — When the roof of the First Congregational Church was replaced in 2003, it was discovered that the steeple had extensive wood rot and had to come down permanently.
The steeple had sat atop the church roof since 1848, when the church was built, along with a copper weather vane which had adorned the steeple’s pinnacle. Due to age and metal fatigue, the weather vane fell apart in several chunks and pieces when the steeple was disassembled. They were stashed away in hope that one day the vane could be put back together.
The pieces were never saw the light of day until Bill Quackenbush searched the crawl space of the church looking to see how the wiring was done so he could install outside lighting at the front of the church. In between some joists Quakenbush came across the main part of the weather vane. Quakenbush said he likes putting things back together again the way they were, so he did.
In 2009 the town of Mechanic Falls had taken ownership of the church building when the congregation dissolved and gifted it to the town’s historical society. However, by 2016 the building had become such a financial strain to the society that the town wondered if the building could be held onto any longer.
In the autumn of 2016 members from the Anglican Church of the Transfiguration believed the church’s location was “perfect” to establish an Anglican Mission Church covering the Oxford Hills/Lewiston-Auburn area.
Shortly thereafter the property was deeded to the Anglican Church with the condition that the town’s historical society could continue use of the building as well.
The Anglican Church has been conducting services since December.
And since then, member Quakenbush has been investigating church weather vanes and steeples, trying to gather enough data to reproduce the original. His daughter Pamela saw a weather vane on a church in New Hampshire that appeared almost the same and took a photograph of it.
From that point on Quackenbush has spent hundreds of man hours replicating it. Now Quakenbush said all the church has to do is rebuild the steeple like it was originally.
Angelican Church member Bill Quankenbush is pictured with the weather vane he reconstructed, which sat atop the former Mechanic Falls Congregational Church steeple.
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