About
On May 19, 2020, the Town of Cumberland realized the first step of a plan to join the Cumberland Historical Society and Prince Memorial Library, when the former District 3 schoolhouse on Blanchard Road was moved to the library grounds. A full foundation for the 1853 CHS building was poured at the library in November 2019, and James G. Merry Building Movers of Scarborough moved the building to the library parking lot. The building was put on the new foundation in August 2020, after which extensive repairs were made to the structure’s interior and exterior. The last major piece of the move and renovation will be the installation of high-density mobile shelving on the ground floor, which will house the collections of the Historical Society as well as historical municipal documents currently stored at the library. The shelving is scheduled for installation in early 2022, after which the collections will be moved back into the facility.
Phase II of the project, which is dependent on fundraising, would link the library and the newly situated CHS facility with an L-shaped addition that would add ~8,500 sq. ft. of space. The expanded facility will have two historic brick buildings, the original 1921 PML building and the 1853 schoolhouse, bookending the library’s 1959 Merrill Wing, the 1986 Cumberland Wing, the 1994 YA Room, and the new space. Preliminary plans for the new construction include a children’s area, a central circulation station, and a 200-seat community room that could be partitioned into three separate spaces. The Cumberland Historical Society, Prince Memorial Library, and the Town of Cumberland are excited at the prospect of having two venerable institutions on the same site, and are fully committed to seeing a greatly expanded facility open within the next five years.