However, by the late 1870’s, it was clear that a much bigger and grander hall was in order.  So a group of citizens (almost all from Dover!) sold shares totaling $8,500 to build Central Hall. It went up over the winter of 1881-82, and in March of 1882, the ladies had a grand opening, raising another $1,500 to furnish the building.  It served as a privately run hall until 1924, when it was sold to the town. It served as the town office for another 80 years until 2008, when the town moved to the old Morton Avenue School. The next year, the Historical Society formed the Friends of Central Hall, which became the Maine Highlands Senior Center.  Over the next ten years, they raised about 1.7 million dollars to almost completely rebuild and restore the Hall.

Over the years, there were thousands of events in the hall.  From 1882 until well into the 1950’s, it was a rare week when the Observer didn’t carry advertisements for upcoming events and reports of recent events.  Notable events included town meetings, dances, plays, school assemblies, and traveling shows,  lectures, roller skating, early movies, and, from about 1905, high school basketball games. Finally, in the early 1950’s, other teams refused to play in a hall with no showers and changing rooms!

Today, the rebuilt hall, now known as Central Hall Commons or affectionately, “The Commons,” is home to over 2000 meetings and events every year – once more a proud pillar of our community!