The octagonal-shaped, former Unitarian church was built in 1899. The church gave it to the town in 1943 with the stipulation that it always be a library. Rose Lincoln

The Abbotts donated the white and brown ash from their wood lot on the Kimball Mile for the ceiling of the Andover Library. Rose Lincoln

Detail of the doorknob at Andover Library. Rose Lincoln

Inside the octagonally-shaped Andover Library Rose Lincoln

The octagonal Andover Library is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rose Lincoln

ANDOVER — In Andover, four places are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This week the Andover Public Library and the Andover Hook and Ladder Company Building are featured. The latter was razed in 2021., The Merrill Poor House and Lovejoy Bridge will be detailed in next week’s Bethel Citizen.

Library

It was on January 27, 1981, that the Andover Public Library on Church Street was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Historian Frank Beard and Architectural Historian, Robert Bradley together determined the significance of the former church, “as a very late manifestation of the octagon mode.” The building is one of only two octagonal religious buildings known to have been built anywhere in Maine, and was probably the last building in the state built with inspiration from Orson Squire Fowler’s promotion of octagonal buildings in the 19th century.

“Built in 1899 as a Universalist Church, this structure is joined only by the 1881 Temple at Ocean Park (N.R. 4/28/75) as an example of octagonal ecclesiastical architecture in Maine. It is also the last 19th-century building constructed in this mode in the state which can be traced to the tradition begun by Orson Squire Fowler and not to modem trends.”

The historians write that the Town of Andover was first settled in 1789 and incorporated in 1804. “As early as 1795 the settlers formed a society called the Social Library, allotted 12 shillings for the purchase of books and acquired 75 volumes. This informal arrangement continued until 1891 when money was donated for a free library and the Andover Public Library Association was formed.

In 1795 the library was private and funded by subscription. Following the establishment of the Andover Public Library Association in 1891 a movement to establish a publicly funded library began.

The library was originally quartered in a room of the Andover Town Hall, until 1943, when its present building was purchased from a Universalist church organization.

The Andover Hook and Ladder Co. fire station at 39 Elm St. was taken by the town in 2019 because of its deteriorating condition. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

The historic Andover Hook and Ladder Co. fire station at 39 Elm St. was torn down, selectmen decided in a 2-1 vote. The old fire station is unsafe and there is no money to repair it, officials said. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

Hook and Ladder

Andover Hook and Ladder Company Building, built in 1904, at 39 Elm Street was on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) beginning in 2001, however the building was razed after townspeople determined it was a safety hazard and voted to tear it down in October of 2021.

The long, narrow two-story frame building had housed Andover’s fire fighting apparatus and served as a meeting place for firemen and other community groups. The building became eligible for nomination to the National Register,  “under criterion A for its association with local fire protection efforts, and criterion C as a relatively intact example of an early twentieth century fire station.”

According to the report filed by NRHP representative, Edson Beall by 1890, Andover’s population was at 790, and its principal town center contained several merchants and manufacturers also two hotels, and two summer boating houses.

Beall writes, “According to local historians, the Andover Hook and Ladder Company was formed in 1890 by citizens interested in providing a means of fire protection to properties in the village center. [The] Company’s fire fighting equipment was initially stored in an existing building. On November 18, 1903 a portion of the present lot was acquired for the purpose of moving a nearby building to it and establishing a fire station. This relocation took place within the following year during which time an additional section amounting to two-thirds of the existing building was apparently constructed.

“The fire station remained in active use until 1987 when a new building was constructed at one end of the commercial district … At the time it was built, the fire station stood next to the village school (no longer extant), which in turn was adjacent to the Congregational Church and across from the town hall. With the Andover Common located on the other side of the church, the Andover Hook and Ladder Company Building remains part of an important cluster of historic public and religious properties in the center of the village.”

Beall writes that The Andover Hook and Ladder Company Building was one of a small number of known historic fire stations that still stand in Maine’s smaller communities. They are listed below and designated (NR/date) if on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Among them is the Massasoit Engine Company Firehouse in Damariscotta built in 1876, and the Old Fire Engine House (NR 9/12/85) in Orono built in 1892. Historic urban fire stations that still exist include the Spring Street Fire House in Portland built in 1837, the Engine House in Auburn (NR 5/22/78) erected in 1879, Hose House Number 5 (NR 9/11/97) and and Fire Engine House Number 6 (NR 4/7/88) in Bangor built in 1897 and 1902, respectively, as well as twentieth century buildings in Augusta, Portland (Congress Street), Saco, and South Portland.”