A skyscraper, an amusement park, a history museum, a pond, a flower garden. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

An Ikea water park. As of today, there is at least one Ikea water park in existence, located in Spain. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

Sea World, a triple-decker bus. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

A Target store, a zoo, a virtual reality park. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

 

RUMFORD — Last month, seven giant-sized postcards appeared over the weekend along the fence outside the River Valley Tech Center on Lowell Street.

These seven images are postcards depict the future, inspired by local kids’ responses to questions such as — If you lent a hand, if you had your way, what would Rumford’s future gain? If you wore a hat that said ‘civic leader, what might Rumford’s future feature?

Kara Wilbur Bensen, owner of the tech center, said this project was funded by the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program. Bensen is part of the 60 Lowell St., LLC group, which received a grant of $250,000 from the Historic Preservation Fund, support in part by a grant awarded by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

In part, she is working on financing, etc. for a 35-room hotel to be developed at the former Bag Mill, which currently houses the UMA Rumford Center, the Greater Rumford Senior Citizens and the Sun Journal/Rumford Falls Times.

“What you see on the posters is sort of a mashup between the historic postcards overlayed with ideas from the students,” noted Bensen.

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She said this display “gives people a chance to think about the future and the context of the past, and a chance to just imagine what the future could look like. It’s always fun to do things that engage people and get them thinking about a building or a place.”

Bensen said local students were surveyed through a teacher and worked with on the project. They studied some of the many postcards made about Rumford over its history, then they were given blank postcards for kids to draw their own ideas about the future of Rumford.

More of those blank postcards for kids are available at the Rumford Town Office and will be available at a table during the referendum vote on Nov. 5 at Mountain Valley High School.

She noted, “The idea is that the old buildings in our community are important. They are a piece of our history and tell stories. It’s important for the community at large to be a part of the future of these buildings, especially ones of this size and significance, and to get people to think about what could happen there.”

Regarding the grant, Bensen said the largest part of the grant is funding the replacement of the roof.

They also figured out a replacement window strategy. “It takes a really long time to make a window plan and get the measurements and we ordered a mock up and replaced one of the windows in the building with a new window. This gave people a chance to look at this window and see if this what they want to do for the rest of the windows that need replacements. A lot of the windows on the third and fourth floor are in pretty rough shape.”

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This is an historic building and an important piece of Rumford’s history.

According to the Rumford Historical Society, this building was originally the Continental Paper Bag Company, incorporated on May 28, 1899, and the first factory building at Rumford Falls was started in August of the same year.

Then the Elsas Paper Company of New York was merged into the new corporation at Rumford Falls, and business was carried on in New York, while work at the Rumford Falls factory progressed rapidly. In the spring of 1900, the new Bag Factory at Rumford Falls was started; in December of 1900, the bag machines from the New York plant were shipped to Rumford Falls and put in place beside the ones already in operation here.

The population of Rumford Falls was increased by the arrival of many of the workmen from New York with their families. The Mill had paper bag and envelope machines and a printing area.

A subway, a playground, a park, a magic show. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

More museums, a ferris wheel. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

A movie theater, more restaurants, a YMCA, and a sports stadium. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

 

These giant postcards are located along the fence outside the River Valley Tech Center on Lowell Street in Rumford. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

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