Lil' Red Schoolhouse in Scituate to reopen

“This project has been huge,” Ball said. “It really came out better than we even expected. The townspeople will be pleased."

The structure—built in 1893 as the town’s high school—was closed in June for extensive renovations to the interior, and a new coat of red paint was applied to the building’s namesake exterior.

The interior, once a dark cluttered space, has been opened into a bright and open area with new filing systems for archived documents, widened doorways, and windows that let in the day’s light. The redesign included knocking down walls to open the interior.

All of the school house’s documents, photographs, maps, and books were carried by volunteers box-by-box into storage bins.

During the last few weeks, volunteers have done the reverse and have brought the thousands of items back into the building and have followed a specified plan for their return to shelves, drawers, and file cabinets.

“It’s going to be much more user-friendly,” Ball said.

A majority of the money—about $135,000-- for the project came from the town’s Community Preservation Act funds, which is collected from a property tax surcharge approved by voters. The historical society also chipped in about $30,000 from its budget for the work, Ball said.

“Our philosophy has been to not ask for 100 percent of the funding,” Ball said.

Ball said updates included computerized archiving of some documents, mapsm and photographs that were once difficult to access because they were stored in boxes in the school’s basement without a system of identification.

“Before, people had to make a special appointment to view some of the archives because they were stored away in the basement,” Ball said. “A lot of things in the archives that weren’t accessible, now are,” he said.

The open house will be free and take place Nov. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. After the open house, hours will return to its regular operating hours, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.