The historic Rumford Center Meeting House was raised one yard from its old foundation last week.

RUMFORD — Under the supervision of contractor Jim Barnett, the historic Rumford Center Meeting House was raised one yard from its old foundation, according Linda Macgregor of the Rumford Center Village Improvement Society.

The raising was done in about an hour in two lifts, 18 inches each.

Macgregor said Barnett indicated that the building will remain suspended as a new foundation is being constructed. It will leave the building 20 inches higher off the ground than previously. In the final stages of the restoration project, the new foundation will be faced with granite.

The 1828 building is Rumford’s original town hall and meeting place.

Since 1804, when Francis Keyes was charged with constructing a meeting house “as near to the center as may be,” the house has occupied the same site at 1352 Route 2, in Rumford Center. It has always served as the community’s gathering place. Though still in use, its foundation is crumbling, paint is peeling and not one system is up to code.

And since 1924, the society has used the building exclusively and has done everything from plays to concerts, to having it available to the community for various uses.

The Select Board leased the building to the nonprofit Rumford Center Village Improvement Society in 2023, months after a nonbinding advisory poll in 2021 when citizens voted not to support the town raising and appropriating a then-estimated $600,000 for repairs and improvements.

Donations can be made online at https://fundly.com/help-us-save-the-meeting-house A reminder to potential donors that gifts to this non-profit are tax deductible.

Membership to Rumford Center Village Improvement Society is $25 per household per year. The membership year runs May through April. To join, send payment to the Rumford Center Village Improvement Society, P.O. Box 361, Rumford, ME 04276. Include your name, contact information, and note the payment is for membership.

Footers have now been poured at the Rumford Center Meeting House.

In the final stages of the restoration project, the new foundation will be faced with granite.