Residents of the Illinois town of Princeville are planning a celebration Thursday to mark the restoration of their one room schoolhouse.
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After four years of work and a move down the highway to a new location, the Akron-Townhouse School stands ready for the next century, The Peoria Journal-Star reported Monday.
The $80,000 the Historical Association of Princeville raised for the renovation project wasn't nearly enough but union roofers, carpenters, painters and masons all volunteered to work on the schoolhouse.
To complete the original look inside, the project received donations of cast-iron legged desks, a century-old piano, a cast iron coal stove and blackboards.
"It's pretty accurate to the way it was," says Princeville Mayor Sid Stahl of the class of 1956.
Linda Fairfield of the historical association is proud of the way the project turned out.
"When you save some history, it kind of makes you feel good," she said