In the late 1800s, French Canadian families were drawn to Waterville to work in fabric and paper mills along the Kennebec River, and moved into dozens of modest houses built by the Milliken family in the South End.
Many of the homes fell into disrepair over the years, and the Waterville Community Land Trust, with the support of the city and other partners, is bringing some of the homes back to life in what is now known as the Milliken Neighborhood.
The latest of three houses to be restored as part of the Milliken Project is the two-story “LaTulippe” house at 3 Carrean St. It is a solidly built Victorian with detailed coffered ceilings, stained glass windows and period woodwork, much of which is being restored.
Nancy Williams, the president of WCLT, is doing much of the hands-on restoration work herself, and said she is determined to bring modern comforts to the home, while keeping the historic touches intact.
Williams has sanded the paint from multiple heavy antique doors and refurbished them to look like new, including restoring brass doorknobs and finding working skeleton keys.
The home, which was purchased last year and has no central heat, has been divided into first- and second-floor condominiums, each with a full kitchen, multiple bedrooms and a walk-in shower.
While WCLT has hired carpenters to install windows and siding and licensed electricians and plumbers for the internal wiring and mechanical work, Williams is doing the rest of the renovation with a couple of other volunteers who have devoted thousands of hours to the project.
Peter Moulton and Clare Beverage are at the house multiple days a week, and have been for well more than a year.
Last winter, the three volunteers fed a small pellet stove on the first floor to keep warm while they were working, but Williams said it simply was not enough to warm the second floor, and working in the cold was brutal.
Williams said the three would like to install heat pumps so they can continue working in better conditions. With no money in the budget for the equipment or its installation, however, she is looking for donations.
She estimated two heat pumps could run as much as $25,000 for the equipment and installation.
If able to heat the building this winter, Williams said she believes the three can finish the renovations by next summer and get the house on the market.
The interior has already been framed out, including generously sized bathrooms and efficient laundry rooms in each condo, and most of the insulation has been installed. Work in the coming months is expected to include restoring the original floorboards, installing drywall, appliances and fixtures and completing other interior finishes. Williams said the trust needs volunteers for those tasks, too, including experienced drywallers to mud, tape and sand.
The renovation work is partly funded through donations, but the city of Waterville was one of eight cities in the United States chosen in 2021 to receive a CommunityWINS Challenge grant. Other grant winners included Denver; Anchorage, Alaska; and Newark, New Jersey.
According to WCLT, the grants were based on population and intended to help cities support investment in affordable housing. WCLT used part of its $50,000 award from the city to complete renovations to a house at 3 Moor St., and then used the proceeds from the sale of the home to buy the Carrean Street property.
The first home the trust renovated is at 181 Water St.
In addition to the city, project partners include Habitat for Humanity, the South End Neighborhood Association and the Quality of Life Committee.
WCLT’s home projects work like this: The trust buys and renovates a house and then sells the building, but retains ownership of the land. Families living at 80% of the area’s median income are eligible to buy the home, typically at 20% below market rate because the family is not buying land.
The trust subsidizes the purchase by making the down payment, and if new owners were to sell the house, they would keep 25% of the appreciation, while WCLT would keep 75%, to be used for future projects.
New owners pay a small monthly fee on a 99-year lease on the land, and typically heirs are allowed to inherit the property, which helps families build equity.
“It keeps home ownership affordable,” Williams said, and creates neighborhoods where families — not landlords — own homes, and owners are present, not absent.
The trust’s goal is to make sure owners pay less in mortgage, tax and insurance expenses — compared to the cost of renting an apartment — to help build wealth and stabilize neighborhoods.
New owners go through an application process, and Williams said “a Waterville family in need of a house may be a priority.” The trust sees many applications from single-parent families with financial constraints.
A chemical engineer by training and a longtime conservation land trust executive in New York and Massachusetts, Williams said she likes the idea of the trust “controlling the destiny of a piece of land,” while revitalizing neighborhoods through homeownership.
An estimated 52% to 53% of Waterville residents are renters, Williams said, and “we’d like to change that. It’s important to have homes for people, and people are getting priced out,” so there is real focus on keeping the houses affordable.
Giving more people an opportunity to buy a home has the power to revitalize and change neighborhoods, Williams said. She sees the trust’s work as “renovating homes and revitalizing the community at the same time.”
Williams said she is keeping her eyes open for the next property to purchase in the Milliken Neighborhood, and once the work at 3 Carrean St. is finished and the condos are sold, volunteers will get right to work on renovating another home.
For more information on the Milliken Project, visit the Waterville Community Land Trust website. To volunteer or make donations, send an email to moc.l1763331773iamg@1763331773tlcel1763331773livre1763331773taw1763331773.
Note: This story was updated on November 3 to correct a quote from Nancy Williams in which she said she likes the idea of the trust controlling the destiny of a piece of land, not dynasty as a prior version of this story stated.
