The fate of Antrim’s historic “Brown Church” may be determined by a special Town Meeting if a group of Antrim residents succeed with a petition requesting the Select Board forgive a lien on the building.

The petition calls for a warrant “to see if the town will vote to compel the Board of Selectmen to abate/forgive the tax lien on Antrim Church of Christ at 100 Main St., Antrim, NH.” Organizers will be collecting signatures at the Antrim Community Fair on Saturday. 

In September 2023, the trustees of the former Church of Christ offered to donate building to the Antrim Historical Society (AHS). According to Bill Nichols, president of AHS, the Historical Society jumped at the opportunity to take over the turn-of-the-century building, but when the AHS started pursuing the transfer of property, a title search revealed a $30,000 lien. (Editor’s note: Nichols is the husband of Monadnock Ledger-Transcript sales representative Sheila Nichols.)

“The records have been lost, and the people who knew exactly what happened are all gone,” Nichols said. “The current owners of the church were not even aware there was a lien on the property.”

In December 2023, Lee Davis, representing the owners of the former Church of Christ property, addressed the Antrim Select Board and proposed that the town abate the $30,000 tax debt, enabling the owners of the church to donate the building to the Antrim Historical Society. According the minutes of the meeting, the Select Board stated they would check on the issue with town counsel.

According to Newbold and Nichols, the Select Board will not make a decision about the building until July 1, which is when the next tax bill is due. 

“In the meantime, the tax bill is accruing every day. The roof is leaking, and the damage keeps getting worse. We were literally ready to fix the roof, and then we found about about the lien. We are asking the town to forgive this lien, on a building that has never, in over 130 years, paid taxes to the town,” Newbold said.  “It is listed as religious a exempt on the tax roles right now.” 

Kathi Wasserloos, a member of the AHS, said it would be a terrible loss to the community if the historic building were sold off to a developer.

“It would ruin the historical character of that end of Main Street,” Wasserloos said. “The town has known about this for five or seven years, when the first piece of mail got sent back. They should have looked into it then.”

Nichols said the petition came about organically from a group of residents.

“A lot of people had the same idea, that the town needs to make a decision on this now. Fifty signatures would force a special Town Meeting, and then it would be up to the voters.  Let them decide. People are aware that it would be very beneficial to the town of the Historical Society took over the building. I think it’s fair to let the whole town have a say in it,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the building could have multiple uses for the town.

“There is a lovely space for our museum, and the acoustics are to die for. We thought, ‘What a great community space!’ It’s disheartening that the Select Board has not taken action,” Nichols said. 

Michael Ott, chair of the Antrim Select Board, said Wednesday that the Select Board was not aware of the petition. According the the New Hampshire Municipal Association, the cost of special Town Meetings varies by town per year.