BATH

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. In Maine, where residents value its communities and their history, that can be a very good thing.

It wasn’t ever a fancy building but the 180-foot-long Freight Shed was built at 27 Commercial Street along the Kennebec River in 1894 by the Maine Central Railroad to house produce and goods. Train tracks ran on two sides of the shed. It once had a two story building on the south side of the shed used as over night facilities for the train crew members and others, which was removed an estimated 40 to 50 years ago.

According to Don Kornrumpf, treasurer of the Bath Freight Shed Alliance, the Freight Shed was then used by the Kirkpatrick family, which had a coal and oil business in Bath on the waterfront. It was used for storage and at times, stored coal. Over the years there have also been vehicles and boats stored in the building.

Time and weather took its toll and eventually the building was falling down, nails falling out and the old rustic clapboards were falling off.

Seven years ago, architect Wiebke Theodore had her studio in Bath overlooking the Freight Shed and was teaching at Bowdoin College — first environmental studies, then visual arts and architecture and sustainability. She used projects in the community as a way for students to become aware of the community and to help encourage them to engage in their own communities after college. She let them design their projects and the sky was the limit.

“Sometimes, I think just dreaming big is good,” she said. Students would use the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust as a hypothetical client on these projects, allowing them to learn about that organization as well.

“We were identifying areas of blight and connecting those areas with community need,” Theodore said. They worked with the local housing authority, the Theater Project and all kinds of different organizations. Looking out her studio window, there was the falling down freight shed.

“That was sort of the seed of the beginning,” she said.

It was a project that had a lasting impact on her college students and one even visited the college recently and returned to the Freight Shed to check up on the project.

Perhaps an even bigger impact was made on students with the Bath Regional Career and Technical Center who have been part of the building’s renovation. Five semesters of electrical technology students and two semesters of engineering graphics students have been part of the project. Three semester of culinary arts students have participated in events at the Freight Shed, working with local chefs.

“I think for these students to have that bond with this place in their community, is huge,” Theodore said.

The Bath Freight Shed Alliance was formed, a 501c3 non-profit organization. Its mission is to establish the shed as a viable community center for the people of Bath and surrounding areas for activities involving preservation, health, art, education and sustainability.

“It’s called an alliance because it tries to bring together various entities in the community,” Kornrumpf said.

The Freight Shed houses Maine’s First Ship, the Virginia, a replica under construction of the vessel built in Popham Colony, present day Phippsburg, in 1607-08. Maine’s First Ship has an exhibit open year round there.

Kornrumpf said the Bath Freight Shed Alliance is merging with Maine’s First Ship, which is also a 501c3 non-profit organization, which should eliminate some duplication. BFSA and Maine’s First Ship will still exist, he said.

The city’s winter farmers market also takes place in the Freight Shed, just down the road from the summer farmers market.

“We’d like to think the farmers market attracts people to Bath,” Kornrumpf said. Patrons will show up Saturday and then continue with their other shopping on Front Street or wherever the need to go, “so it increases visitations to Bath and is positive for the local merchants.”

The building has undergone a significant amount of investment and repair. With creation of the BFSA, “we’ve been pretty successful in restoring the building,” he said.

The building has a new roof, new floor, new heating units and an improved kitchen. The south wall has been painted a historic straw yellow and brick red, the north wall is nearly done to match and soon the west side of the building on the road side will be repaired and painted as well.

The alliance is looking at possibly installing a sprinkler system, which would allow the building to host more people at events. Part of the dream, Kornrumpf said, is for a brick walkway to continue on Commercial Street to the Freight Shed connecting it to the waterfront park. Once the Virginia is launched, perhaps in three or four years, it would be docked in front of the Freight Shed so visitors could go onboard, or perhaps take a short cruise.

While the building is currently owned by Howie Kirkpatrick, who has been very supportive of the project, Bath Freight Shed Alliance holds the first option on and plans to purchase the building. All of the building improvements will count as a credit towards the purchase price, Kornrumpf said.

The alliance holds events at the shed, including its Full Moon diners for Friends of the Freight Shed.

The Frieght Shed is available to the community events as well.

For more information visit bathfreightshed.blogspot.com .

dmoore@timesrecord.com