LITTLETON — A former elementary school that has transitioned into a thriving agricultural museum will now be able to replace its heating system thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
The Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum was one of the organizations in northern Maine that was selected to receive a USDA Rural Development Community Facility Grant.
The $14,700 grant will be used to replace the approximately 65-year-old heating system in the museum, which Francis Fitzpatrick, the president of the museum’s board of directors, said Friday was installed when the school was built.
“It is the original piping,” he explained. “We have to dismantle all of it. The boiler was replaced just before the school was closed [in 2000] but it is giving us problems.”
The museum will replace it with a more modern oil fired hot water boiler system.
The former elementary school building has developed into a facility showcasing the region’s agricultural and rural heritage.
The museum features room after room of antique farm equipment and other items on exhibit for the public.
Outside the facility, the museum recently completed a 30-foot by 100-foot addition to the Carl and Helen Hagan Barn. This addition provides an area to display wagons, tractors and early farming equipment.
Harbison Plumbing and Heating in Houlton was the lowest of three bidders, according to Fitzpatrick, and was selected to complete the project at a cost of $39,161.
