32 Water Street, Bank Square, Eastport, Muselenk (Moose Island), Maine.
Three-story brick structure was built in 1887 and was designed by Boston and Saint John, New Brunswick architect Henry N. Black. Originally built as the meeting hall for the local Masonic fraternal organization (Eastern Lodge #7) using New Brunswick made brick and Nova Scotia sandstone, the Masonic Lodge occupied the upper second and third floors of the building while Mildon’s variety department style store occupied the first floor. The building’s rear warehouse addition was built in the early 1930s to serve the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (A&P) Company that had then come to occupy the ground floor of the main Masonic Hall building. The A&P Company moved out of the building and to a new downtown location in the late 1960s. The Masonic Lodge sold and left the building in 1982. For the next 35 plus years, a restaurant occupied the first floor of the building and the upper floors and rear warehouse contained art related activities (community theater, art galleries, artist studios).
TIMA purchased Masonic Hall in April, 2019 to preserve and repurpose it. TIMA is developing the building to include exhibition space, archive space, and working studio space that can double as business incubator space. The ground floor includes a developing restaurant space. Masonic Hall is part of a 30 building downtown Eastport, Muselenk (Moose Island), Maine National Register Historic District. The award winning Boston based architect firm of Machado-Silvetti has developed initial plans for the repurposed use of the building. More about the Masonic Hall development project can be found here: Masonic Hall.
