WATERBORO — For more than 60 years, the building that has been home to the Patrons of Husbandry ”“ more commonly known as “the Grange” ”“ has stood as a landmark on West Road.

Owned by the Waterborough Historical Society since it was donated to the group in April 2010, the building is now in line for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Christi Mitchell of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission said the commission’s review board will vote on the nomination at their quarterly meeting later this month.

While many may assume the National Register of Historic Places looks to name only very old structures, that is not the case, Mitchell said. Criteria for the list include that a building be at least 50 years old and that the property has been associated with events, activities or developments that were important in the community.

The Waterboro Grange hall was constructed sometime after 1947, when its 1923 predecessor burned in the wildfires that swept through the town in October of that year. It was rebuilt and first occupied a couple of years later.

Mitchell said the building, a replica of the 1923 structure, mimics the craftsman, bungalow style of the 1920s.

“It is not the last, but one of the last known grange constructions,” said Mitchell.

Waterborough Historical Society President James Carll agreed.

“There are very few grange halls from that era,” he said.

The former grange is actually the third grange hall in Waterboro. The original, built somewhere near the intersection of West Road and Route 202 around 1908, burnt in the great wildfires of 1911, Carll said.

The heyday of the National Grange movement was in the 1880s, up to the turn of the century. The Waterboro Grange was established in April 1904.

In 2010, there were 15 members remaining in Waterboro Grange No. 432 ”“ down from 200 at its peak.

And while the number of grange buildings and granges has dwindled in Maine and across the nation, buildings like the one in Waterboro are a part of the landscape, Mitchell said.

“Grange halls in general are associated with a social movement in the 1870s and continues to evolve in Maine today,” she said.

According to a story on the Maine State Grange website, written by historian Stan Howe, Maine’s granges extend back to farmer’s clubs organized in the 1850s. They declined after the Civil War and were displaced by the grange, organized in Washington, D.C. in 1867, and had arrived in Maine by 1873.

The Maine Historic Preservation Commission will consider the nomination at its Jan. 27 meeting in Augusta. If the vote is affirmative, Mitchell said the nomination is sent to the keeper of the National Register, who will publish the nomination, and barring an objection, the building is listed in 45 days.

Other Waterboro buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Taylor House and the Dennis Johnson Mill ”“ both under the auspices of the Waterborough Historical Society, along with the Elder Gray Meeting House and the Old Corner Church.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.