FARMINGTON - The Knowlton-McLeary building, which was recently sold to Massachusetts developers, has a diverse history and was the site of Farmington's first Ford dealership, according to local historian and attorney Paul Mills.

After nearly five years on the market, the Church Street building was sold to developers Stephen Braconi and Joseph Carlson.

The building consists of a large brick structure measuring about 3,000 square feet and a small wooden one about 1,300 square feet, according to Braconi.

Mills said the smaller wooden section was formerly a cemetery monument business until the 1960s and the brick building housed the Knowlton-McLeary printing company from the mid-1940s to the 1990s. The printing business was sold to an Augusta printer, who moved the entire printing operation to his Augusta plant a few years later it took over.

In May 2003, the wooden part of the building was renovated to house NOW gallery, while the remainder of the building served as studio space for local artists and university art students until early January.

When the Augusta-based printing company vacated the building, it left behind several dies and typeset plates. Braconi said he gave them all last week to Peggy Hodgkins, principal for Hodgco Inc., the building's former owner. The metal typesets include imprints of places and businesses that "are no more," said Hodgkins Thursday. They also include old logos, some from the university, she added.

She said she did not know the value of the historic artifacts but planned to donate them to the Farmington Historical Society.

"I think they're more valuable than we know," she said.