CUMBERLAND — The town has pushed the relocation of the Cumberland Historical Society building to at least next month due to a delay in receiving materials needed to move the 1853 structure to the Prince Memorial Library campus.

Originally planned for last month, then postponed to Nov. 18-19, the move is now scheduled for Dec. 10, Town Manager Bill Shane said in an interview Nov. 7. He did not expect the steel needed to create a protective “crib” around the former schoolhouse to arrive before the end of this month.

“Moving the building is not the hard part, it’s all the utility coordination to move wires,” Shane said, noting that telephone, cable and power lines will need to be moved or dismantled temporarily so the building can be transported 0.2 miles from 4 Blanchard Road through the Main Street/Tuttle Road intersection to a new foundation on the grounds of the library at 266 Main St.

The town is paying Merry Building Movers of Scarborough $40,000 to relocate the structure, which is intended in the coming years to be incorporated into an expanded library. Shane said he hopes the foundation will be poured in the next two weeks to be ready for the 1,100-square-foot building’s placement.

“We’re going to be taking very, very careful measurements in the next couple of days to make sure the walls are supported properly,” he said.

The delay is “discouraging, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Shane added. If the weather at the time of the move is inclement, the relocation could even be pushed to next spring.

In the meantime, the library’s director is looking forward to the project. Thomas Bennett praised the combination of “these two long-standing institutions in the town, dedicated to similar goals, together on the same parcel, (with) more collaboration and visibility for the historical society. … I think it’s a great thing.”