By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

Driving south into downtown Kennebunk, it’s hard to miss the federal style church that has overshadowed the intersection of Summer and Main streets for 236 years. 

In the center of town, the church has been home to the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church congregation, host to many community organizations and events, and now the First Parish Preservation Foundation, a new non-profit organization with the mission of maintaining the structure and preserving the historic nature of the building.

Preserving the past does come at a cost, however. Foundation board member Kevin Flynn said multiple repairs due to structural and chipping exterior paint during the past 10 years have cost the congregation $500,000, which they raised through a capital campaign. 

Foreseeing more repairs, including restoring the steeple clock, sanctuary access and various exterior improvements, the congregation decided to establish a foundation to continually raise money for future capital improvements was necessary. 

Board members of the First Parish Preservation Foundation hosted a breakfast Nov. 12 to present the formation of the foundation to members of the church and community. The foundation is dedicated to preserving the historic building. The organization consists of board members from the congregation and community and is entirely separate from church related activities or finances, said foundation board chairman Bob Lown. 

Maine Preservation Executive Director Greg Paxton addressed people gathered during the breakfast meeting. 

“To quote Winston Churchill, ‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us,’” Paxton said. “This is an early church and in a highly significant area of town. It is one of the finest in the state, and churches inspire all of us, not just those that attend.” 

Flynn presented an historic overview of the building from the time it was built in 1772 to present day. He said in 1803, major renovations to the church included an expansion. 

Architect Thomas Eaton was in charge of the 1803 project. He sawed the building in half and added the 28-foot addition in the middle, Lown said. He said Eaton, who was inspired by architectural work of Asher Benjamin, added the steeple shortly after the expansion was completed.

Thirty-five years later, a floor was added to the building, creating community space on the first floor and the present sanctuary upstairs, Flynn said. He said the first clock was installed in the tower in 1858, along with a Paul Revere bell that was cast by the Revere and Son Bell Foundry in Boston. 

At more than a century old, the Hook and Hastings clock has been removed from the tower for restorations, said foundation board member Eric Clough, adding the foundation hopes the clock restoration will be the first project funded by the foundation. Now sitting in the first floor parlor, the clock having just been refurbished at a cost of  $20,000 is waiting to be restored to the tower, Clough said. He explained the workings of the clock begins a floor above the sanctuary and extends three stories above to where the clock faces are located. 

“The clock in the tower is powered by 300 pounds of rocks in a chute and someone has to wind it weekly,” Clough said. “The clock is accurate to within 10 seconds a month, and the mechanism of how it works is thanks to clever engineering and a box of rocks.”

Clough said the foundation also hopes to raise an additional $10,000 to replace an existing automatic wind that was responsible for stripping the gears, because returning to hand cranking requires someone knowledgeable about the mechanism and willing to climb to the tower weekly.

While the foundation has yet to schedule a fundraising event, members hope the work on the clock will be finished and the clock restored to the tower by the first of the year, Flynn said. 

“We are hoping to start the clock at midnight on New Years. It would be a really neat thing to do if we can coordinate it,” Flynn said. 

Foundation board member Ki Leffler toured the church after Flynn’s presentation. With many friends who are members of the church, she said with her “knack for raising money” and desire to preserve the building, she decided to join the board as a community member.

“This is such a treasure to the town,” Leffler said.