HAMPDEN, Maine — Hampden Historical Society board members on Tuesday launched a capital campaign to raise $500,000 to renovate the Martin Kinsley House at 83 Main Road South.
The society’s board of directors has identified several areas that must be addressed to ensure that historical records and artifacts will continue to be preserved in the house, which was built in 1794 by Reuben Newcomb and purchased by Martin Kinsley in 1800.
The campaign will fund a new two-story, climate-controlled and fireproof archival wing, expanding both the society’s work and storage areas, Poulin said. It also will pay for new windows, siding and insulation, an ADA compliant bathroom, new heating system and repairs to the foundation, front sills, front entry and a new second floor entrance.
Kinsley, born in 1754 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, studied medicine at Harvard College and served in the Revolutionary War. He was a Circuit Court judge, justice of the peace, postmaster and U.S. senator.
After 1900, the Kinsley House was a wayside stop for travelers, and a birthing home. It features the original fan window, pumpkin pine flooring, chair rails, fireplaces and six-panel Christian doors. The Hampden Historical Society purchased the house in 1981. The main house was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1983.
The society’s volunteer board of directors is responsible for managing and maintaining the Kinsley House, the museum, barn, blacksmith shop and the Hannibal Hamlin Law Office.
Volunteers work in the Katherine Trickey Archives Room recording and filing genealogical and historical documents.
The archive contains numerous one-of-a-kind documents, ledgers, journals and vital statistics dating from 1794, including records of marriages, diaries, and letters from the early 1800s.
The current archival wing was a large shed that was moved and attached to the house. A recent environmental study of the structure determined that the archive space must be completely replaced.
The Hampden Historical Society is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through October. Gifts to the “Our History Lives Here!” campaign may be sent to the Hampden Historical Society at P.O. Box 456, Hampden, ME 04444-0456.
For more information, email HampdenHistorical@gmail.com.