NORWAY — The Gingerbread Task Force has reached its goal of raising $100,000, the amount it will take to stop the demolition of the historic building on Main Street.

The surprise announcement was made Tuesday to several dozen people gathered at the Norway Memorial Library to hear about the plans to save the historic house and to brainstorm about what its future may hold.

“The donor is willing to make up all the money it will take to move, up to $100,000,” Norway Downtown President Andrea Burns said. “We’re there.”

An anonymous donor “with ties to Norway” recently gave $75,000 toward the effort, but apparently offered another $25,000 to meet the figure set by Ed Snook, chief financial officer for C’s Inc, a holding company of the Sun Media Group and owner of the 1851 building.

The major fundraising effort is the first phase of a three-phase plan to save the building, which is known historically as the Evans-Cummings House and locally as the Gingerbread House.

The house with its octagonal tower has graced the entrance to Norway from the north since 1851. Its builder was Richard Evans, an important contractor who also built the Nash House on Pleasant Street and the passenger station at South Paris. The Gingerbread House is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to the donation, the task force has another $7,204 in donations and a promise from the Davis Foundation of $20,000 if the group can raise $150,000 in the next two years.

“We think it’s more realistic every day,” Burns said. The plan to save the house has been developing over the past several years among various organizations, including Norway Downtown, the Norway Historical Society, the Gingerbread Task Force, the Steering Committee, the town of Norway, Norway Water Department, and the Maine Department of Transportation.

 
A slide show of the interior features of the 80- by 20-foot building showed 160-year-old undercarriage beams that looked new. After that, the group was told that the Historical Society stepped up to the plate initially to take the offer from C’s Inc. with the intention of seeing that the building is preserved. C’s Inc. will not remain the owner.

The future of the building is up in the air, but participants in the forum suggested a variety of ideas for reuse, including a war and peace museum focusing on the Civil War era, an artist retreat, a children’s museum or an artisans’ gallery.

The group agreed that whatever happens, the building must be self-supporting. If plans are successful to secure the building, it could be moved to a site near Butters Park as early as this spring.

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