Five years ago, voters in both the Ashland and Shaker Regional school districts voted to keep the wrecking ball away from historic Victorian-era schools in their communities.

Today, one of those schools -- the 1878 Ashland Graded School, a three-story brick building that sits on a hill above School Street and has been called the best example of second-empire architecture in the state -- is on the verge of being saved.

(the Belmont's 1894 Gale School portion of this report has been omitted).

As is almost always the case when it comes to preserving old buildings, their fate rests with being able to find a useful new economic life for them, says James McConaha, historic preservation officer with the New Hampshire Department of Historical Resources.

Just like people, buildings need "a purpose and an income'' in order to survive, says McConaha.
 

Ashland effort

That has happened in Ashland, where in 2001 the Ashland School Board, unable for several years to find a suitable buyer, asked voters to spend $44,000 to demolish the old school.

But residents of the town, many of whom had attended the school, weren't about to see it consigned to history's ash bin. Instead, they supported a petitioned warrant article submitted by the Ashland Historical Society that called for the sale of the building to the Tri-County Community Action Program. The school board balked at the plan, and it wasn't until shortly before the 2004 school district meeting that a purchase-and-sales agreement was signed. Conditions in the agreement, however, required that TCCAP have sufficient funding in hand to be able to undertake the $1.2 million project.

Last year, a fund drive was launched to raise $755,000 to complete the project, and even though TCCAP wasn't able to obtain a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant, the organization has now received pledges of support that will enable it to meet the goal of having 80 percent of the project's funding by the end of the year.

TCCAP's community development director, Phyllis Powell, said the agency will be sending a letter to the Ashland School Board informing it that the conditions have been met and that the agency is prepared to move forward with the purchase.

Powell said the agency plans to use one of the first-floor classrooms for a Head Start project and another first-floor space for its community contact office. It is also working to develop plans for use of the second floor.

She said the project couldn't have succeeded without the strong support of the Ashland Historical Society, which under David Ruell's leadership was able to raise $30,000 for the project. The organization also convinced the school board that a workable plan was being developed to address officials' concerns about safety and parking (the Ober Elementary School is located a few hundred feet away).