Jonesboro Union Church

Historic church in Maine, United States

United States historic place

Jonesboro Union Church

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Show map of Maine

Show map of the United States

Location| Looks Point Rd., at jct. with US 1, Jonesboro, Maine
Coordinates| 44°39′35″N 67°34′32″W﻿ / ﻿44.65972°N 67.57556°W﻿ / 44.65972; -67.57556Coordinates: 44°39′35″N 67°34′32″W﻿ / ﻿44.65972°N 67.57556°W﻿ / 44.65972; -67.57556
Area| less than one acre
Built| 1840; 1911
Built by| Calvin Whitney (1911)
Architect| E. Leander Higgins (1911)
Architectural style| Late Gothic Revival, Tudor Revival
NRHP reference No.| 02000788[1]
Added to NRHP| July 18, 2002

Jonesboro Union Church is a historic church on Looks Point Road, at the junction with U.S. Route 1 in Jonesboro, Maine. Built in 1841 and significantly restyled in 1911, it is the community's only surviving 19th-century church. It is also notable for its eclectic blend of architectural styles, and is an important early ecclesiastical work of Portland architect Edward Leander Higgins.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[1]

## Description and history[edit]

The Jonesboro Union Church is located in the dispersed rural village center of Jonesboro, just east of US 1 on the north side of Looks Point Road, overlooking the Chandler River. The church is a 1-1/2 wood frame structure, with complex massing and roofline. It is finished in wooden clapboards, and rests on a foundation of stone and concrete blocks. The building is very roughly T-shaped, with a two-story tower at the T's southern inside corner. To the right of the tower is a north-south gable-roof section, whose front is flush with that of the tower. Behind the tower a hip-roof section extends to the west. The tower houses the main entrance vestibule, the rightmost section, which is the original 1841 church, houses the sanctuary, and the back section houses the vestry area. The sanctuary, originally oriented with the pulpit at the long end in the traditional 19th-century manner, is now oriented with the pulpit area in a projecting section on the east side. The building exhibits Gothic Revival elements, with buttresses flanking the sides of the front, flared-roof pinnacles and steeple on the tower, and a modest amount of jigsawn woodwork in the open bays of the tower.[2]

The town of Jonesboro had three congregations in 1840, for whom this church was built as a union meeting house in 1841. By the turn of the 20th century two of the congregations were no longer active, and the building was in need of extensive repairs. Portland architect E. Leander Higgins was retained to design changes to what had been a traditional Greek Revival structure, in order to accommodate a large sanctuary. The building was moved 20 feet (6.1 m) onto a new foundation, its interior reoriented from horizontal to longitudinal, and the tower and vestry added.[2]

The church alterations are one of the earliest known ecclesiastical works of Higgins, who had up to that time worked principally on residential architecture. In the 1920s and 1930s he was one of Portland's leading architects, with an acknowledged expertise in Gothic Revival architecture that included commissions from the Episcopal Diocese of Maine.[2]

## See also[edit]

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Maine

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. ^ a b c d "NRHP nomination for Jonesboro Union Church". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-10-13.

* v
* t
* e

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Topics|

* Architectural style categories
* Contributing property
* Historic district
* History of the National Register of Historic Places
* Keeper of the Register
* National Park Service
* Property types

Lists by state|

* List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state:
* Alabama
* Alaska
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Colorado
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Hawaii
* Idaho
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Montana
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New Mexico
* New York
* North Carolina
* North Dakota
* Ohio
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* South Dakota
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Utah
* Vermont
* Virginia
* Washington
* West Virginia
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming

Lists by insular areas|

* American Samoa
* Guam
* Minor Outlying Islands
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Puerto Rico
* Virgin Islands

Lists by associated state|

* Federated States of Micronesia
* Marshall Islands
* Palau

Other areas|

* District of Columbia
* American Legation, Morocco

Related|

* National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
* Historic Preservation Fund
* List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places
* University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places

* National Register of Historic Places portal
* Category

*[No.]: number
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template