Century-old stained glass windows being restored at church

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) - The words "window restoration" doesn't do the process that Donna Baldacci is undertaking much justice.

Piece by piece, she dissembles and cleans glass that was installed inside Town Clock Church more than a century ago. It takes about three weeks to prepare a window, and she has been tasked with restoring the 20 stained glass windows inside the church's sanctuary.

When she's finished, the windows should last at least 80 years. Though it's an arduous task, Baldacci, co-owner of The Stained Glass Gallery in New Albany, said she's humbled to be able to work on the project. She's grateful Friends of the Town Clock Church commissioned her for the work, as she's witnessed how stained glass windows can decay without proper attention.

Unfortunately, some churches just don't have the funds available to pay for upkeep and restoration of their stained glass windows, she said.

"It's expensive to do this process, and it's an absolute shame, because these are a work of art," Baldacci told the News and Tribune (http://bit.ly/18LnJwb ).

Friends of the Town Clock Church, under the direction of Keep New Albany Clean and Green, is leading a campaign to restore the building, which was constructed about 1850 and now houses Second Baptist Church at 300 E. Main St. The church served as a link in the Underground Railroad, and the organization is attempting to preserve the historical structure for the future.

The city of New Albany and the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County are among the primary donors to the project, and private fundraising efforts have helped raise about $275,000 for the restoration.

Irv Stumler, president of Keep New Albany Clean and Green, said about $200,000 in additional funding will need to be raised to replicate and replace the church spire and finish the project. In the interim, the church's sanctuary windows are receiving some needed love and care. Some pieces of the windows were literally falling out when Baldacci and Stumler inspected them prior to the start of the restoration project.

"We called that our 9-1-1 project," Stumler said. "They had to be fixed or we were going to lose them."

The windows likely were added in the early 1900s about a half century after the church was finished.

"As a church flourished, and got more money, that's when they started to embellish the sanctuary," Baldacci said.

Churches often times placed memory plaques inside the windows so family members or friends could honor a loved one by purchasing one of them.

Baldacci - who has worked on stained glass windows for several churches in the area including St. Mary's Catholic Church in New Albany - has restored four of the windows so far.

Though she's meticulous with her work, there are some pieces of the windows that are beyond saving. But thankfully, Baldacci has been able to track down the original glassmaker for the windows, and there's an Indiana connection.

Kokomo Opalescent Glass - a glass manufacturer for more than 125 years - was the primary source for the original windows. It's still in business, and the replacement pieces for the windows will come from the Kokomo company.

"We go to great lengths to match the original pieces that cannot be saved," Baldacci said.

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Information from: News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind., http://www.newsandtribune.com