A 200-year-old schoolhouse in Avon will soon become a history museum.
The Avon Historical Society expects the renovations to be complete in spring of 2024. Meantime, work on the building's exterior has already begun.
Crews were busy on Wednesday, renovating the now centuries-old structure. It's a one-room schoolhouse, dating back to 1823. According to the Avon Historical Society, Avon didn't become a town until 1830.
"We want this to be a nice walking community. So going from one end to the other. So, we want to be the anchor of the east end," said Terri Wilson, president of the Avon Historical Society.
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Wilson said the building was a school for 115 years, serving first through eighth grade students.
Between 1982 and 1983, the town leased the structure to the Avon Historical Society, who moved the building to where it is today on East Main Street.
For more than 20 years, it served as a museum. But in 2012, it shut down. Now, as the building turns 200 years old, town leaders plan to open it back up.
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"We said to them this is your oldest building in town, even though it's not in its original location. Let's renovate it together and share in that opportunity to reopen it as a museum," Wilson said.
There will be two exhibits inside the museum. One will showcase Avon's 400-year history and the other will be about the Paleo-Indians and what it was like to settle in this region 12,500 years ago.
Wilson said the Avon Historical Society and the town are funding most of the project together. They're also asking for the community's support for the interior renovations.
People can buy a brick with their name on it, which will get installed in a little park right beside the building.
Avon's Town Historian Nora Howard said the project works to tell the town's story.
"We want people to be able to come here and enjoy and learn from this history, which I think is really the heart of Avon," Howard said.
The museum is expected to be completed in 2024, which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Avon Historical Society.
