After seven years and $40,000 raised by donations and fundraisers, the 1885 Washington School’s belfry was raised and attached to the building in Round Pond Tuesday, Dec. 16.
The Washington School, open from 1885-1954, housed grades one through eight. In 1954, students were relocated to the Bristol Mills School. In 1955, the town sold the schoolhouse to Masters Machine Company, which outgrew the building in 1964, according to Round Pond Schoolhouse Association Vice President Bill Smith.
The Masters family kept the original schoolhouse bell and used the building for storage.
The schoolhouse was about to be given to the Bristol Fire Department for a training burn, but was instead given to the Round Pond Schoolhouse Association in 2007. Immediately, the association recognized the need to restore and save the building.
“We started hosting yearly rummage sales every Memorial Day, and we started renting out the schoolhouse for art shows, singing groups, and yarn exchanges,” Smith said.
The fundraising took place in increments, with different projects in mind for each amount of money raised, Round Pond Schoolhouse Association President Cynthia Wright said.
To date, the association has replaced the roof, refinished the floors, repaired the windows, painted and weatherized inside and out, redesigned the electrical system, replaced the central staircase, and rebuilt and raised the belfry, Wright said.
The Masters family donated the original bell to the belfry project, Wright said.
The association wanted the exterior to match the original as closely as possible and used old photographs to accomplish this goal, Smith said.
After the belfry was raised and in place, cheers and applause erupted from the community members in attendance.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Wright said. “It’s a dream come true. The community has been so unbelievably generous with their time, support, and money.”
Next on the agenda for the association is raising money to paint the west end of the building. “We had to use some of the paint money to finish the belfry,” Wright said.
For more information about the Round Pond Washington Schoolhouse, or to book the building for an event, visit http://roundpondschoolhouse.org.
