CANTON – It took three hours, but the huge, colorful stained glass window that faces the road was finally taken down, all in one piece.

Now, over the next six weeks or so, stained glass experts will repair holes made by rocks thrown by vandals more than 15 years ago.

The removal of the gold, red, blue and green stained glass window at Bradbury Chapel is the first step in restoring this 1908 church on Canton Point road.

Janet Davis, a member of the chapel’s Board of Trustees, said about $3,000 will be used to restore the arched, stained glass window. The money comes from a couple of fund-raisers held since last summer and from the trust fund established for the church many years ago.

Maine Art Glass of Lisbon Falls will do the work.

Co-owners Jim Nutting and Nell Bernard gently coaxed the arched window out of its casings following several hours of efforts.

The names of some of the town’s early families – McCollister, Haines and Weld – are etched in the glass.

The cost to repair the window is more than the $2,000 it cost to build and furnish the wood-framed chapel in 1908.

Preparing for a wedding

Repairing the window is but one of the projects the trustees hope to accomplish.

Davis said the work will be done by June 12, the date her granddaughter, Jennifer Davis, of Washington state plans to return to the area to marry in the same church her parents were wed. Although the chapel hasn’t held regular services for more than a half-century, special events, such as weddings, are occasionally held there.

That’s a major reason for the restoration.

Davis said the community hopes to use the chapel more frequently as a place to hold weddings, other celebrations, funerals and special performances. A series of fund-raisers will be held to help pay for additional projects, such as building a handicapped-accessible ramp, fixing the roof and, eventually, repairing the bell and the exterior brown shingling. Nicks and holes in some of the smaller bell-tower and vestibule windows, also caused by vandals before Plexiglas was installed, also must be repaired eventually. Davis said she and some of Canton’s families may pay for those repairs.

The names of other early Canton families, such as Ludden, Treat, Howard and Bennett, are etched on all but one of the remaining nine stained glass windows. That is about to change.

Honoring another family

Clinton Conant, president of the chapel’s Board of Trustees, said the Conant family has decided to replace that plain glass window with a stained glass one by mid-June. Maine Art Glass will do that work, too.

“We thought it would be a good idea for Mother (Gladys Conant) for all she and the family have done,” he said. “We’re one of the last early Canton families that aren’t represented here.”

The dedication of the new window, the first since the chapel was built, will take place sometime during the summer.

A second, large stained glass window built into the rear wall of the church was given by the man who paid for building the church – Albion Bradbury, a prominent farmer who moved to Canton Point from Byron as a child during the 19th century.

Restoring the chapel is important to the community, Davis said, both as a a site for events and a memorial to the early families.

Once the front window is repaired and reinstalled, Davis said she hopes the translucent Plexiglas that protects the windows will be replaced with a more transparent material so the beauty of the stained glass work can be seen.

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