When many visit local historical societies, they enjoy seeing the artifacts that tell the story of a town’s past. Often the architecture of the building itself is not considered. The Royalston Historical Society, thanks to a generous anonymous donor, will be preserving a piece of architectural history at their building when they restore the cove ceiling on the upper floor of the historical society. “We were surprised and very grateful for the donation,” said Peter Kraniak, president of the Royalston Historical Society.
Currently, the ceiling in the society is a tray or recessed-type ceiling. A coved ceiling is more of a curved type of ceiling. “It was always known that the upper floor had a coved ceiling,” Kraniak said. The cost to restore the coved ceiling is expected to be $40,000
Kraniak has been researching the history of the ceiling and when it was put in or why still remains a bit of a mystery. “The ceiling was put in past the time of anyone now alive,” he said. Among the records he has researched are school committee and town meeting minutes from the mid-1800s, but he has found no reference to the ceiling. He discovered in the minutes of the historical society meeting in 1960 a donation of $500 by the son of Dr. Adams to restore the cove ceiling.
Currently, the society is working on packing the items in the upper floor away and moving them to the lower level of the society to prepare for the ceiling work planned for Spring or Summer 2022. The society will also be applying for grants to assist with the moving of the larger items on the upper floor. The list of museum items that were handwritten have now also been transferred to a computerized list. In the future, this list will be accessible on the historical society website.
As for the completion of the coved ceiling project, Kraniack said, “It will be nice to see it finally done.” It is also hoped to insulate the ceiling and eventually heat the building. “Once the building is heated, it is hoped the society can be opened year-round,” he said.
The building where the historical society and Post Office are located was once the Old School House #1 School in Royalston. The first-through-sixth-grade school was opened in 1834 and used until 1939, when the Raymond School was opened. The building was purchased from Mr. LaBonte in the 1950s, bought by the Village Improvement and Historical Society of Royalston. The Boy Scouts used the first floor and in the early ’60s; the museum opened on the second floor, according to Kraniak.
The school was once smaller, he continued, but was split in the center at one point and 10 feet were added to the center. “I have not been able to find this information but we know it was done when you look in the attic and see the different timbers … When they reconstructed the school, they say the building was turned around but I think they just took the tower and moved it to the front. The building supposedly had two staircases when the tower was in the back of the building,” Kraniak stated.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.