FARMINGTON – Members of the Farmington Historical Society and the Franklin County Agricultural Society checked out the inside of the historic Red Schoolhouse Thursday.

Co-owned by the Farmington and Wilton historical societies, it was moved in pieces from Routes 2 and 4 to the Farmington Fairgrounds in September for use as a museum.

The red clapboard building with white trim was built in 1852 and closed in 1958. It later opened as a museum and then was used as headquarters by the Farmington-Wilton Chamber of Commerce, now the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.

It has a new roof and looks at home on the fairgrounds near the Maple Street entrance between the agricultural museum and maple products museum.

Inside the schoolhouse on a chalkboard is written, “Those who say it can’t be done, should get out of the way of those who are doing it.”

A large school bell sits in the corner of one section and the earliest original school master’s wooden desk from East Wilton in 1804, is in the classroom. The room has wide wooden planks as flooring and wainscoting up a third of the walls, with plaster on the upper two-thirds and the ceilings.

For some, the move to the fairgrounds was controversial, for others, it wasn’t.

The company that owned the land the schoolhouse had rested on before its move was selling the property and the schoolhouse had to be relocated.

It’s been somewhat of a joint venture between the groups in getting it to the fairgrounds, said Rupert Pratt, chairman of the Franklin County Agricultural Society that oversees the fairgrounds.

The historical society went after donations to help with the move, he said.

On Thursday, Farmington Historical Society President Bob Flick and Treasurer Tom Sawyer presented a check for $6,339.11 collected in donations to Franklin County Historical Society President Randy Hall, Pratt, Trustee Glenda Barker and George Barker.

The historical societies plan to formally turn ownership over to the agricultural society in the future, Flick said.

About $35,000 has been invested in the project between the move and repairs, Pratt said.

“We got a lot more into it than we anticipated,” Pratt said, and there is still more work to do including repairing plaster.

He estimated that they’ll need about another $5,000 to complete the repairs.

Glenda Barker said the building needs to be scraped and painted.

The roof and foundation are done, Hall said.

The goal for this year was to get it sealed up and get a roof on it to withstand the weather, Pratt said.

They hope to have the museum open for the fair and for special events in the future, he said.

Anyone wishing to donate to the red schoolhouse project can send donations to:

Franklin County Agricultural Society, P.O. Box 652, Farmington, ME 04938 or Farmington Historical Society, P.O. Box 575, Farmington, ME 04938.