WESTBROOK — The Warren Memorial Library, which closed in 2009 due to a dwindling endowment, has been sold to the Seventh-day Adventist Church for $900,000.
The Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, now based on Allen Avenue in Portland, hopes to move its office and build a new heritage center at the former library on Main Street for a grand opening in the spring, said Randee Reynolds, the conference’s treasurer.
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Reynolds said the Seventh-day Adventist Church started in Portland and Gorham in 1863, and the heritage center will celebrate that history through artifacts and displays.
“This just seems perfect for us to be between the two towns,” Reynolds said.
The former library went up for sale last spring – about a year after its closure spurred an outcry from its loyal patrons.
The private library was established in 1876 by Samuel D. Warren for employees of his paper mill and their families. It was opened to the public in 1930, after the establishment of the nonprofit Warren Memorial Fund, which paid for its operations.
The city-run Walker Memorial Library, across Main Street from the Warren building, is now Westbrook’s only library.
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