By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

With time working against them, local volunteers hoping to save Epsom's most visible historic structure from demolition are coming up well short of their $60,000 goal.

This historic building, built in 1861 and currently housing the Epsom Bible Church, will be destroyed to make way for a Cumberland Farms store if money isn't soon raised to move it. The Save the Church Committee needs about $60,000 for the move. (File Photo)

The Save the Church Committee has been trying to raise money for several months, in hopes of moving the 1861 building that currently houses the Epsom Bible Church and the Cornerstone Academy before Cumberland Farms builds a gas station and convenience store on the Route 4 site.

To date, the group has raised a mere $3,000, some $47,000 to $57,000 less than needed to move the building to a temporary location.

"It's a struggle," said the committee's chairman, Dick Frambach. "It's hard to accept that the possibility that it's going to be destroyed is getting more real every day."

The committee has drafted several versions of a warrant article that members hope will be on this year's town ballot. The latest draft, said Frambach, would simply transfer ownership of the church to the town. If that warrant article passed, money to go towards preserving the old church and one time town meeting house would have to be raised privately and through grants.

"We didn't want to burden the taxpayers," said Frambach. "We thought that would lead to a sure rejection."

Frambach said two possible new sites - if only temporary - for the building are the site of the the old town offices, and a piece of town-owned land off Route 28, between the post office and the police station. The group had considered a state-owned parcel directly across Blackhall Road, but the 0.8-acre site proved too costly, said Frambach.

Selectmen approved the committee in May after Epsom Bible Church Pastor John Spring announced that Cumberland Farms was eyeing the site, which has been on the market for years.

Frambach said the company has since purchased the site, and offered $10,000 to go toward salvaging the historic building.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Jay Hickey said the closing of the sale would likely depend on site approval from the town's planning board, and that Cumberland Farms has yet to appear before either that board or the zoning board.

"We really haven't heard from Cumberland Farms much," he said.

But with the church congregation expected to move into a brand new facility on Blackhall Road by February, it seems time may be the committee's primary foe.

"Our main concern is getting it out of there before it's demolished," said Frambach, who thinks the building could be a valuable asset to the town, both as a historical monument and a meeting space. "Once it's gone, it can never be replaced."

The Save the Church Committee, which has gathered about 12 regular members, will meet Thursday, Jan. 26, and Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Epsom Town Offices.