Stakeholders in the city of Sanford have been working diligently to revive the former mill town, bringing life to the old buildings, making improvements to the urban landscape, and adding public places and spaces to better the area for residents.
The latest charge is the renovation of the old City Hall auditorium.
Mary Stair and Jody Shellane, both of Sanford Maine Stage theater company, are leading the campaign ”“ in its very early stages ”“ to raise funds and create a space that can once again host plays, concerts, pageants and more.
This would be a major boon for the city, and hopefully attract groups like Sanford Maine Stage to the area to boost the city’s cultural offerings.
The City of Biddeford’s City Theater was beautifully restored and now offers plays, concerts and other performances, as well as hosting productions by the UNE Players, from the local University of New England.
According to City Theater’s website, the opera house opened in October 1860, and it operated for more than 30 years before a fire destroyed the entire city building in December 1894. The rebuilt opera house reopened in January 1896. After surviving decades of hosting live performances and films, “television and drive-ins won the battle over movie houses, and in 1963, City Theater closed,” according to the website.
From 1971-74, it was used as a storage facility for the city, but in 1977, the newly incorporated City Theater Associates began the effort to reopen City Theater, and it achieved that with the reopening in 1978.
In 1996, it celebrated its 100-year anniversary and was awarded a gift of new seats from the city. Shortly afterward, thanks to a combination of funding from federal, state, municipal, private and business sources, a full restoration was under way. The effort included a new marquee along with restored and reproduced stenciling on the theater’s lobby walls, house walls, and ceiling. The theater”˜s lighting and sound systems were also updated and a digital projector and new heating and air conditioning systems were installed.
Sanford’s auditorium has its own storied past. When Sanford Town Hall opened Aug. 27, 1908 for the first time, Salem Cadet Orchestra played in the second-floor auditorium, and satirist and author John Kendrick Bangs was the keynote speaker. The following evening, the National Guard held a concert in the auditorium, according to accounts in the Springvale Advocate the following day. Performances and balls continued to grace the space until a fire in 1924 gutted town hall. It was, however, rebuilt the next year, along with the auditorium.
Sanford could certainly replicate Biddeford’s efforts, and fortunately, Sanford city grant writer Lee Burnett is on board. He told the Journal Tribune last week that a committee has yet to be formed, but the process is moving forward.
Renovations to the old auditorium will certainly be a costly and lengthy process, but with people who care about Sanford taking the lead, this dream can certainly become a reality. We hope other residents will step up to help get this process going, by forming a committee to do the research and legwork to lay out the plans and determine the cost of such a vitally important project in making Sanford a great place to live, work and visit in southern Maine.
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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham Rousseau on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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