St. Joseph’s Church and rectory on Main Street in Lewiston in 2011. The Church on the National Register of Historic Places has a reprieve from demolition; the
rectory does not. (Photo by Rachel Morin)

St. Joseph’s Church will stay; the rectory will not, as announced last week

by Chuck Gill, spokesman for Central Maine Healthcare, the parent group for
Central Maine Medical Center. Most likely, the rectory lot will follow the
original plan for hospital parking.

St. Joseph’s Church on Main Street, a long beloved Lewiston landmark with its abutting rectory, had been scheduled for demolition ever since being purchased in 2013 for $125,000 by Central Maine Healthcare with plans for a parking lot to relieve the pressing need for additional parking for the hospital.

Those plans were stalled at that time due to an outcry of voices within the
Lewiston-Auburn communities protesting the action. The 159-year-old church had a long and proud history and had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

In response to the concern at that time, Chuck Gill said that CMH would research what could be done to see what measures might be employed for alternate use of the church. The spokesman now says the hospital is looking for historical tax credits to help renovate the church.

So St. Joseph’s Church has a reprieve, for now, but not the rectory.