Little Meetinghouse recruiting help for popular Windham facility

By Ed Pierce

Here’s your chance to assist in preserving a thriving piece of history in Windham as volunteers are being sought to maintain and help manage the Little Meetinghouse in North Windham.

The historic Little Meetinghouse building in Windham is
popular to rent for bridal and baby showers and other events.
The nonprofit organization will conduct a meeting for
potential volunteers at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 13 to 
continue the facility's tradition of service to the community.
COURTESY PHOTO 

Susan Dries serves as president of the Little Meetinghouse and says the organization’s managers are aging and looking to bring in new volunteers to continue the tradition of service to the community.

Dries joined the group as a volunteer originally because she is a storyteller and was looking for a space that she could do that for a larger audience and at a price she could afford.

“We need volunteers to keep this great historic venue in Windham available to our surrounding area,” Dries said. “Some of our regular volunteers are looking to lighten their loads after many years of involvement.”

Volunteer tasks may include scheduling and communicating with renters, obtaining bids for snow plowing and shoveling, mowing, light building maintenance. A treasurer volunteer is also needed to help manage the group’s finances.

Construction of the Little Meetinghouse originally began in 1871 with all funds for the project raised by subscription. It was the brainchild of Erastus Cram of Windham, who sought volunteer help in building a new free meeting house and church in town. Using $800 in donations from 43 individuals of various religious denominations, the building first opened in 1872 and for years it was the only church in that area of Windham.

By the turn of the 20th century, it was celebrated as a popular site for weddings and groups looking for a convenient place to conduct meetings. In 1914, the Busy Bees, a sewing group, charged clubs a total of 2 cents to hold meetings there. The Busy Bees later became known as the Ladies Aid of Windham. In 1930, the facility was renamed as the nondenominational North Windham Union Church and by the 1960s, the building had affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

The original church steeple was replaced with a new one in 1975 although the original church bell remains in place dating to 1872. The bell was ordered from the Montgomery Ward Company catalogue and shipped from Chicago, Illinois less than a year after the Great Fire there.

Church services moved in 1979 to a large parish house that had been built in 1957, and the building was scheduled to be torn down but a group of concerned residents stepped in to rescue the facility. In 1993, the church was moved to its current location at 719 Roosevelt Trail on town-owned land as Frances Manchester and her son David formed the Friends of the Little Meeting House and raised enough money to save the building. 

After years of restoration work mostly performed by volunteers, in 2006 the nonprofit Friends of the Little Meeting House group opened the Little Meetinghouse facility as a public site for small weddings and community meetings, and it is now being rented out for $200 on a regular basis to local groups.

It is available for all types of events, including bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, anniversary parties and business presentations. It’s been rented for exercise classes, musical performances, bean suppers, lobster dinners, quilt and coin shows, storytelling events, antique appraisal shows and yard sales. The facility is air-conditioned and has a large open event space, a kitchenette with a refrigerator, microwave and double sink and a bathroom.

It’s now booked all the time throughout the year and in 2022 the building’s front doors were replaced and are expected to last into the 22nd century. All the money derived from rentals goes back to the building for maintenance and facility updates.

A special meeting for potential volunteers will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13 at the Little Meetinghouse at 719 Roosevelt Taril in Windham. If unable to attend but are interested in volunteering, call 207-892-9346.

“The building remains in great shape and is in demand because it is affordable and more bridal and baby showers are held here than anyplace else in Windham,” Dries said. “It’s a piece of history and we hope some new volunteers will step up and keep it that way well into the future.” <