The deed for historic Colburn School, seen Tuesday beside Riverside Cemetery on Arnold Road in Pittston, was transferred to the town following a vote at the annual town meeting. The one-room Colburn School opened in 1815 but has not held students since 1964. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

PITTSTON —  The Colburn School, a one-room schoolhouse from the 1800s, holds a special place in Louise Kruk’s heart.

Her grandmother, Grace Witham, taught there, and six of Kruk’s eight brothers went to school there.

And now, with the school’s deed back in the town’s hands, Kruk, president of the Pittston Literary and Historical Society, is hoping to secure grants to fix up the school  and eventually make it a community gathering place once again.

“I really love that little school,” Kruk said.

The Colburn School was built in 1815 and served as a one-room schoolhouse until 1964. It’s located off of Route 27 next to the Maj. Reuben Colburn House, where Col. Benedict Arnold acquired the bateaux  used for his arduous expedition to Quebec in 1775 to attack the British, and it’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

The school belonged to the historical society for nearly 40 years until March, when residents voted at the annual town meeting to return the school to town ownership. By doing this, Kruk said, it will help secure the grants needed to fix the school up.

“I would like to bring it back to where we were 20 years ago when we’d host and have meetings there,” she said. “My dream is — and this is Louise Kruk speaking — is to get grant money where we could have electricity there again, or a porta-potty to host people. There are a million things in my mind. Art shows, a place where we could display art, or community outreach where we could have the seniors meet there for coffee.”

To get the school there, the historical society, a small team of around 14 people, needs community support.

The interior of Colburn School in Pittston is pictured Tuesday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

They need a grant writer, and someone who can help make necessary repairs to the beams and structure of the school. Because Colburn School was added to the list of the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, restoration and repairs must meet specific construction standards to maintain the historic value of the building.

The building made the list for its educational value and for its architecture, as an example of a 19th century rural school building. According to the National Register of Historic Places, one-room schoolhouses proliferated in Maine and there were more than 4,000 by 1900. That number decreased to 226 by the 1960s, due to 20th century school consolidation efforts among towns.

Michael Goebel-Bain, historic preservation coordinator for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, doesn’t know how many one-room schoolhouses are still standing in the state today, or how many are on the National Register of Historic Places. They are rare, he said, but still added consistently to the list, with the most recent in Alna.

The Colburn School, seen in April beside Riverside Cemetery on Arnold Road in Pittston. Residents voted at the annual town meeting to transfer the building from the historical society to the town. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file photo

The process to get on the National Register of Historic Places can take up to a year, Goebel-Bain said, and having the buildings on the list can be helpful for the state or municipality for future planning — or simply to know the significance of why the building is there.

“It helps identify them and recognize its significance,” he said. “The nomination form helps identify important features if something were to happen. The main thing is if some projects are going through, like from the Department of Transportation to widen a highway, we have the building identified and people are aware and we can get as much consideration as we can get.”

Kruk feels confident her small, closely knit town will come through with the support needed for restoration and renewed public use, especially with the number of newcomers who have moved into the community.

“They are part of Pittston now,” she said. “They are here and it’s good to learn about things here and be a part of it. To put the exhibit on and show kids what it was like to go to school back then. I hope we get back to hosting families and kids. We need more people to help preserve the building.”