Brooklin weighs takeover of Baptist Church, Bowden Hall

Church member says seeing historic building fall into disrepair ‘would make us all cry’

More than 40 Brooklin residents gathered at the Brooklin School gymnasium to hear about a proposed donation of the First Baptist Church of Brooklin and adjacent Bowden Hall to the town next year. A feasibility committee tasked with studying the issue is seeking suggestions for potential use of the properties. Photo by Tricia Thomas.

By Tricia Thomas

BROOKLIN—The town of Brooklin held the second in a series of public engagement meetings on November 12 on the potential takeover of the First Baptist Church of Brooklin and adjacent Bowden Hall. A third informational meeting is scheduled for December 10, with more planned in January, February and possibly March in advance of a town vote on the issue on April 3.

Church trustees, faced with a dwindling congregation, an aging facility, and rising costs have offered the church and hall to the town free of charge. The church also will turn over $100,000 to the town for repair and upkeep of the buildings.

Select board chair David Reiley said that the town has set up a feasibility committee to study the church’s offer and potential uses for the buildings that will make a recommendation on how to proceed in advance of the town vote. Reiley also said that the town plans to ask residents to vote by paper ballot as part of the municipal election, as opposed to vetting the matter at a public town meeting. That vote will be preceded by at least three more public engagement meetings—in December, January and February—with a fourth meeting possible in March, Reiley said.

“I think that will save us, potentially, hours of discussion if we were to put it as a warrant article for Saturday and a vote by hand,” Reiley said. “ By that time, I hope we can all know as much as we can know and make as informed a decision as we can, and we can vote in private.”

Feasibility committee chair Mike Sealander, an architect, said that the church’s first choice is donating the buildings to the town.

“The church wants to see the buildings be preserved and be used for the benefit of the community,” Sealander said. “How that actually happens is for us to grapple with.”

Sealander encouraged the more than 40 people gathered in person and via Zoom to ask questions and provide suggestions.

“We on the committee really feel like we’re in a listening mode right now,” Sealander said. “We really do want to engage, in as many forms as possible, to hear what the community wants to do or see happen to the buildings.”

Sealander said the newly formed group’s review will include both revenue-generating and non-revenue-generating options. 

“One use might be very popular but have no foreseeable way of being paid for. Another use might be less popular with a clear revenue stream attached to it,” he said. “So, one of the things I’d like to do on the committee is to ‘game out’ three different scenarios.”

According to an FAQ posted on the town website, the church is offering to bear all of the costs of the real estate transfer, including attorney’s fees, expenses related to a title search, surveying costs, environmental assessments and recording fees.

The church also will donate $100,000 from its stewarded funds at the time of the property transfer.

“That $100,000, once it goes to the town, can be spent any way they see fit. No strings attached,” said Mike Sherman, president of the church’s board of trustees. “What you see is what you get.”

The white clapboarded Greek revival church at 22 Bay Road in Brooklin’s town center, was built in 1853. According to a report submitted by engineer Andrew McCullough, hired by the town to assess the buildings, the church is in “structurally excellent condition.” McCullough also reported that the church may need “new roof shingles, new ADA ramps, fire extinguishers, emergency and exit lighting.” The feasibility committee also is recommending inspections of its electric, plumbing and mechanical systems.

Bowden Hall, built in 1957 and used as a town fire station until a new one was constructed in 2002, now houses church offices and meeting space. In addition to church events, the roughly 2,400-square-foot hall has hosted local scouts’ groups, craft shows, weekly coffee klatches, and community and private celebrations. Both the church and Bowden Hall share a single well and septic system.

Sherman, who has been a member of the church for the past 21 years and has attended services there since he was a child, said that the decision to donate the property was not made quickly or easily.

“The church has come down in membership. We’re all getting older. We came to the conclusion that we had three options: to either give it to the town, give it to an individual, or walk away,” Sherman told the audience.

“Walking away has been done so often in these old churches, and we’ve seen what happens,” Sherman, a lifelong Brooklin resident, added. “But that church is right in the center of town, and it would make us all cry if we saw that church fall to pieces in the center of town. We don’t want to see that. We want it to be taken care of.”

Church member Scott Holden, who also has attended services there since childhood, agreed.

“My hope and dream is that, at the April 3 meeting, you folks decide to keep this in the town and make the church beautiful again,” he said. “Let’s stick together and keep this in the town, please.”

While some residents asked questions and offered suggestions for future uses of the property at the hour-long meeting, no one spoke against the proposed takeover.

The next public engagement meeting on Dec. 10 will begin at 6:30 p.m. A location for the meeting, likely the Brooklin School gymnasium, will be announced on the town’s website, Reiley said. More information on the plan also is available on the town website.