The Raymond School
The Raymond School was built in 1938 by the federal Works Progress Administration to replace old Schoolhouse #1, the building currently housing the Royalston Historical Society and the Royalston Post Office.
The land for the Raymond School was donated to the town by Mary and Catherine Raymond on August 6, 1938 and the school was first occupied in September of 1939.
With the building now vacant the plan for the building, recommended by the Building Committee and approved by the Select Board, is to renovate the building to provide modern office space for town employees. Before we could really do anything to make that a reality there were some immediate first steps that were required:
- Removal and cleanup of the asbestos that was used to insulate many parts of the building including the heating system and the roof
- Installation of a new roof to replace the asbestos-based roofing materials that will be removed
- Removal of the 1939 oil-fired heating system and replace that with an environmentally friendly heating and cooling system
- Drainage work to stop the recurrent minor flooding of the downstairs
- Architectural work to design a space that will provide as many offices as possible
All of this work has been completed except for a complete architectural study and the development of a detailed plan needed to obtain funding and complete this project. The Building Committee is actively looking into how to get this next step completed.