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Town
Acquires Village Restaurant
Turns it Into a Parking Lot By: David Deschesne Fort Fairfield Journal, November 13, 2013 The town of Fort Fairfield recently tax acquired the Village Restaurant from Willis Adams and promptly razed it. The restaurant had to have its asbestos abated before it could be torn down. “There was a small amount of asbestos,” said town manager, Dan Foster. “County Abatement took care of it. Some of the roof shingles had asbestos and we followed the DEP guidelines and removed them ourselves.” Other than the loss in tax revenue and cost to raze and clean up the location, there were no additional costs to the town. The building was constructed in 1888 and was the oldest still -standing building on Main Street. It was originally the Fort Fairfield Drug Store and remained a drug store for nearly 100 years until it was closed in the early 1980s.In the 1950s, Fort Fairfield Drug Store also featured a sandwich and soda counter, similar to the style at Harvest Market today. It was nick -named “The White Front” because of its all white exterior.In 1986 it was purchased by Bert and Janet Lagassee and operated as a restaurant until the Great Flood of 1994. After the flood it was purchased by Willis Adams and operated by him as Village Restaurant until 2007. The building had been listed on the real estate market for the past six years but Adams was unsuccessful at finding a buyer. The Fort Fairfield town council voted to tear down the building and make the property available for a future business. "The lot is too small for a building and will become part of the parking lot next to Acadia Medical Supply, which the town currently owns," said Foster. “This one lot is large enough for a structure and perhaps we can find some entrepreneur to locate a business there.”
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Fort Fairfield Journal ©2013 David R. Deschesne, All Rights Reserved