The Historical Association of Fair Haven Donates 80k Towards Bicentennial Hall

The Historical Association of Fair Haven, Inc, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote the history and preservation of Fair Haven, handed over a $80,000 check to the Borough of Fair Haven at the council meeting on June 27, 2011.

This money was saved after over a decade of fund raising events in order to help restore Bicentennial Hall, also known as Fisk Chapel.

“We started raising money in 1998,” said Pat Drummond, member of the association. “And have been adding to the bicentennial trust fund ever since.” 

The raised-money comes from the garden party in September hosted by a different family in the historic section of Fair Haven each year.

Mayor Mike Halfacre said when he was first running for mayor in 2006 he realized he wanted to do something important, like restore Fair Haven’s oldest building, for the bicentennial year. The former chapel is the only place in Fair Haven recognized by the state and national historical registries. 

In order to restore the building, the borough hired a historical architect to come out and assess the building and come up with a plan, said the mayor.

The plan’s budget was over a million dollars and had three stages. First, to repair the structural stability of the building including fixing the roof, foundation, etc. Second, to repair the functionality of the building including lighting and making sure the space is usable. Third, is making sure the building has “historical authenticity” or making sure the furniture and paint color is all the same from when it was a working chapel. 

According to the Mayor, the borough started on this three stage plan over four years ago and has completed all of the repairs they could do themselves using the Fair Haven Department of Public Works employees and . They now have a $120,000 budget to complete the work, and the check from the historic association will help out with that bill. The rest of the money will come from left over money from grants and the capital projects. 

“Our goal is for the January 1^st re-organization meeting to be held at bicentennial hall this year,” said Halfacre.