Lodge | MainStreet Warner, Inc.

Something Wonderful is Happening in Warner

Jim Mitchell

The Lodge

With the COVID pandemic in full force, 2020 proved to be challenging for everyone and every non-profit. As MSW was forced to forego planning for another season of entertainment in the park, these difficult times also enabled us to make some remarkable and exciting changes. Thanks to an outpouring of support, we were able to purchase the former Masonic Harris Lodge #91 at 17 Church Street on September 25th, 2020. This magnificent building was built as Warner's First Baptist Church, dedicated on September 25,1833, purchased by the Masons in 1964, and now continues serving the community as the home for MainStreet Warner, Inc.

The Lodge, both historic and beautiful, is an important building in the center of town, across from the Simonds Public Elementary School, our long time educational partner. Pellettieri Associates is preparing the landscape design for the grounds, and Chippers has been assisting in tree management.
MainStreet Warner, Inc. was able to realize this purchase with huge community support, a newly forged partnership with Warner Connects Community Food Pantry, and a loan from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. While the purchase alone was an impressive accomplishment the work has just begun, and we are now seeking your help in this transformational work.

The preservation and restoration of this building must be the first goal. There is the original nave for the church, waiting to become a performance hall, featuring a gorgeous, functional pipe organ, beautiful old woodwork and pews, and four spectacular stained glass windows. There is an attached building holding a kitchen and a sunny, large community room. Properly joining these two buildings will allow for ADA accessibility throughout the building, an improved stage for performances, and a community kitchen for all. With this facility MSW can realize even greater success in service, adding to a long history of accomplishments and programs delivered over the past twenty years.

Commercial Kitchen

We are very excited to share this emerging community project with you, and would like to ask for your support in realizing the completion of a shared use community kitchen available to the area for educational, charitable and entrepreneurial activities.

Central in the preservation and growth for the building is the development of the Community Kitchen. The kitchen will allow for a variety of programs, foremost providing an important link in year round nutrition for the Warner community, a cornerstone of our Warner Farms and Food Security Project. The kitchen will perform multiple community functions including a processing facility for the safe preparation, preservation and distribution of locally produced foods to households in need, a commissary kitchen for local food entrepreneurs, a venue for community cooking classes, workshops and more.

Thank you to Anthony Mento of SMP Architecture for this preliminary plan.

The urgency and importance of this work has been laid bare these past two years. With over 20 years of community work behind it, a strong board of directors, a dedicated volunteer base and important local partnerships, MSW is uniquely positioned to make wide reaching and significant impacts with this new facility. We have already received support from the NH Charitable Foundation, NH Community Loan Fund, multiple community organizations, and private donors. In order to reach our goal, move into implementation and deliver on our targets, we are seeking your support. Together we can take direct action to make, not only immediate, but lasting impacts through building the community resources to meet current challenges and better face those to come.

Please consider a donation to support our expanded mission to nourish the community with not only food, but with the arts and community involvement.

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