Greetings from Columbia Falls:

It's with a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that we report to you, our Ruggles House family, that the rear wing or ell of the Ruggles House, removed in 1938 to save the main house, has now been rebuilt. Never say that we rushed into this project, as it has been more than 60 years from destruction to dream to reality. Because of the time lapse our planning and design work was taken from an 1921 photograph of the house exterior showing many Victorian type features indicating that this section was probably renovated (some say that the ell was the older part of the house) as the times in style changed. These photographs were taken by William Sumner Appleton and published in Old Time New England Magazine in April 1922.

The new ell has been constructed adhering to the images in those photographs while incorporating present-day recommendations for handicap accessibility. A few sources for oral history of the space as to the interior arrangement of rooms and their uses have been considered but throughout the years, we find that carious spaces have been used for various activities in the 100 years of Ruggles Family residency from 1818 to 1920. Therefore we followed the recommendations of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission in not replicating a kitchen in the ell. The three floors of interior space will be used for interpretive space of historic items, archives and record storage and display areas, plus a handicap accessible bathroom. It will be the challenge of our docents to guide you through the space and interpret what might have been, as well as describing our collection.

We invite one and all to our official open house on Sunday, July 17th from 1 to 3. This will not only present our new facility but also honor those who unselfishly, over the years, donated generously to this project.

We thank for the following past and recent donors:

Mrs. Helen Madiera and her late husband, Louis
The late Mrs. Edward Browning Sr. and the Browning family

We thank those who built our addition:
Alan Grant - Pleasant River Builders

We thank our professional advisors who kept us on tract:
Christopher Glass - architect
Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. - State Historian & head of MHPC
Pamela Crane - archaeologist with Morrison & Crane

It is the nature of a non-profit organization to constantly seek help, usually financial if it is to survive, in the form of donations, grants, bequests, appeals and sales. A few years ago in concert with our Society's 50th anniversary, we had a capital campaign, realizing over $300,000 gross funds. Although a little short of our ambition, we met several goals in funding our endowment and education programs. We fell short in meeting our goal to fully fund this ell. There are some folks who made pledges yet have not fulfilled that obligation. There are others who suggested that once the construction was underway, they would support the building project. Needless to say, now is the time to fulfill this obligation, as we are about $40,000 short of our goal. In addition, we are enclosing an envelope for any contribution you might wish to make including our once-a-year membership drive.

It is not entirely money that we could use. For our archives/office space where we will have all our records and archives in one location, our "wish list" includes office ware such as a filing cabinet, 6' banquet tables (2), computer table (we have a computer), secretary's type chair. If it belongs in an office, we need it.

For the museum, we are still looking for antique rugs, old frames suitable for portraits, old copper wash boiler, old farm or lumbering tools and any old pictures of Columbia Falls.

Ellen Tenan, Ruggles House Society's secretary/archivist, house tour guide and all around indispensable worker, has developed a slide presentation of "our House" to take to schools and civic groups to make this house meaningful. She also belongs to the Mayflower Society as part of her family claims that connection. As the Ruggles family came to Boston in 1635, it would seem possible that though marriage, there might be a connection to the Pilgrims, taking Ellen's talk in a new direction. We are investigating some leads on this theory.

DATES OF INTEREST Friday, May 6, award to Ruggles House Society from Maine Preservation* Sunday, May 8, Director's Meeting @ 1PM in the Columbia Falls Community Center Saturday, May 28, Plant Sale 9-12 at Ruggles House (rain or shine) Sunday, July 17, Open House and Ell Dedication Thursday, July 28, Ruggles House Society Annual Meeting-reservations requested Saturday, October 1, Director's Meeting

*You and the board and officers of the Ruggles House Society should be very honored and pleased that Maine Preservation has recognized Ruggles House with a statewide award for stewardship of our House. This award should be shared with more than 50 years of volunteers who made this award possible. Soon this will be announced in the press.

We wish to thank the following generous supporters who responded to our Appeals Letter:

Mr. And Mrs. Standish Bourne, Jr. Mr. And Mrs. Nathaniel Bowditch Mr. And Mrs. Robert Brown Mrs. Grace Bucknam Mr. And Mrs. William Bush, Jr. Mr. And Mrs. Charles Butts Mr. And Mrs. James Day Mr. and Mrs. Robert Grant Julina Gylfe Mr. And Mrs. Charles Herr Ellen M. Higgins Susan Hirschman Mr. And Mrs. Andrew Kandutsch Ruth E. Kelley Emily Sara Levine Faye and Thomas Lunt Machias Savings Bank Mr. And Mrs. Kenneth Mirman Mrs. Francis R. Mitchell Diane Owens Jane Pampalone Jane M. Porter Barbara Rossow Mr. And Mrs. Thomas Ruggles Jenene J. Schneider Mr. And Mrs. Vernon Scott Mrs. Charles Stewart, Jr. Johanna Turnquist Union Trust Co. Alice N. Wellman Anonymous Mr. And Mrs. Edward Williams Roger Moss and Gail Winkler Alice Grant Mert's Concrete Mr. And Mrs. Larry Smith Phyllis Drisko Richard N. Bedard Emeline Torrey Helen T. Madeira Anne Kalin Mr. And Mrs. John Marshall Mr. And Mrs. Tristram Colket Douglas W. Endicott Mr. And Mrs. James Benenson, Jr. John V. Sawyer Gertrude L McCue Nancy E. Fitzgerald Mr. And Mrs. Peter Harrison Mr. And Mrs. Calvin Carr Mr. And Mrs. Richard Spencer Mark E. Bradstreet Patricia G. Mudge Mr. And Mrs. Bernard Ward John Tibbetts

We will close with a very discouraging problem that has been ongoing since last summer. Our domain name ruggleshouse.com, through no fault of this Society, has been pirated and is no longer available to us even though we "own it". Therefore, we have had no email or web page service through that site in that time. We have now changed to a new consultant but everything takes time. When we are again able to receive email or you may visit our web page, we can be found at ruggleshouse.org. Let's hope this is a swift transition.

Linda Long, President.