NEW SHARON — The Jim Ditzler Memorial Public Library board of trustees is seeking to preserve the vacant New Sharon Library on Route 2 and use it as a historical museum at the Farmington Fairgrounds.

The building would be next to the Red Schoolhouse Museum.

To make it happen, library trustees need to raise money for the move, Treasurer Cathy Ramsey said.

Bids on the property, about a tenth of an acre on Route 2 near the center of New Sharon, are being accepted along with donations, she said. Proceeds from the sale of the property will benefit the moving fund.

Bids will be accepted until the next trustees meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, trustee President Maynard Webster. Bids may be sent to Librarian Diana Oliver at P.O. Box 61, New Sharon, ME 04955.

Trustees are not setting a minimum bid but reserve the right to accept or reject any bid. A previous attempt to solicit bids required a $10,000 minimum bid and failed to bring results, Ramsey said.

A moving company has provided a quote and talked with fair officials about the details, she said.

“It would be a nice addition to go with the Red Schoolhouse and the fair’s historic display,” Webster said.

If the move takes place, there are several books, an old librarian’s desk and old card catalog that will go with it, he said. The collection also includes a paper catalog listing from 1897 and 50 books, mostly nonfiction and children’s story books, Ramsey said.

The Franklin County Agricultural Society board of trustees said it welcomes the move to the fairgrounds to compliment the Red Schoolhouse Museum.

“It is a grand old building,” said Tom White, superintendent of buildings and grounds for the Franklin County Agricultural Association. “We are excited about having it here. It fits in with the school and will expand the history lane of old buildings.”

White, Franklin County Agricultural Society Secretary Neal Yeaton and others have visited the library to check the condition of the building. The fairgrounds would prepare a pad for the library to sit on, White said.

With a front that White said reminds him of the architectural style used in old westerns, the library dates back to the 1850s.

According to “New Sharon Remembered” by Marie Kearney and Pamela Bonney, the town was given $500 in 1858 with the provision it come up with $500. The $1,000 was to be invested, and the interest used to purchase books.

During town meeting in 1859, residents accepted the conditions and a town library opened with 160 volumes. These books came from what was called the old social library, a small circulating library where books were owned by individual members who shared with others in a group formed for that purpose. Donations were added for a total of 1,142 volumes by 1881, according to the publication.

The library may have been located in a second-floor room of a downtown shop, but records are not clear, it said. Library trustees often met in the law office of Oliver Currier, the building that trustees want to move.

Currier passed away in 1871 and his heirs donated the building for a library in 1895. They deeded it to the library trustees who are appointed by the town, Ramsey said.

Donations in the early 1900s were used to enlarge the building.

The building was previously located on River Street at a site now in the middle of Route 2, Webster said. The building was one of three moved by the state in 1957 to make way for Route 2 and the new bridge.

The library remained where it is until the property of Jim Ditzler was offered for a new library around 2000.

After the move to the present library site, the old library was used for a church and then by the Historical Society. It has been vacant for the last year or so, Ramsey said.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net

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