KNOX - To look at it, the East Knox School — a one-room school house built in 1898 — hadn’t received much attention in recent years. The paint was peeling and stained, and the clapboards were ragged in places. An addition had been unceremoniously removed, as had the roof. On Monday, however, all eyes were on the historic building as it rolled through town aboard a hydraulic trailer. 

The century-old school house had been on the radar of the Knox Historical Society for several years as a possible headquarters and repository for town records. The group got a break when the school and surrounding 3.5-acre property located on Route 137 were auctioned to a local resident who wanted the building removed.

On Monday, workers jacked the old school building onto a truck and hit the road, drawing a steady stream of curious onlookers from homes located along Routes 137 and 220. It took around two hours for the trailer and caravan of support vehicles to make the five-mile journey to Thor-Nox Farms, a former dairy farm-turned-education center and donor of land for the building.

For most of the transit, the school and trailer assembly was pulled by a truck. For the last half-mile, however, the truck bowed out allowing Knox Historical Society President Clayton Larrabee to pull the building the rest of the way with a team of two of his Belgian draft horses.

Larrabee and company deposited the schoolhouse by an excavated area within sight of the Mount View School complex. The plan, according to representatives of the historical society and Thor-Nox Farms is to erect the old schoolhouse on a knoll in such a way that an additional floor could be constructed below ground level. The added level would likely be used by Thor-Nox Farms and other community groups. The old school building would serve as a home base for the historical society. 

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com