YORK, Maine — A bit of York history went up in smoke Monday night, when the Agamenticus School House burned during a planned, controlled fire set for training purposes by the York Beach Fire Department.
The long-abandoned building was the last remaining one-room school house in York, built circa 1854. Efforts were made in 2010 to save the building, but a citizen’s petition question seeking $200,000 for the work failed to garner enough support from residents.
In its place, a man with deep York roots will be building his home, using six of the beams, bricks, and granite steps from the school house, all removed in advance of the fire. A small addition on the side of the school house that is structurally sound has been moved to the edge of the property and will serve as a shed for owner Brian Belmonte.
“It’s sad, but there’s nothing left to it,” said York Beach Fire Chief David Bridges. “It would have been really sad to burn down 25 years ago when there was still something there. But now, it’s just rotted away.”
Beach and York Village firefighters were involved in the controlled burn, which got underway just before 7 p.m. Monday night. Bridges said because there are no floors, interior walls or windows in the structure, the firefighters engaged in tanker training only. The tanker was filled at the hydrant at Route 1 and Mountain Road and then brought to the site.
Bridges said there are no houses in the immediate vicinity of the building, but a few nearby oak trees that were planned to be cut down for Belmonte’s home anyway were sprayed with water prior to the fire.
Belmonte said he also saved the school flagpole, and will put it back in its place of honor after he builds his farmhouse style home. He said he moved back to York a year ago, saying his family dates back to 1630 in town. He said he knows the importance of the school house to the area.
“It’s exciting because it’s a big step in my personal life, but I understand what it means to people, which is why I’m trying to save as much as I can,” he said.
For neighbor Pamela Wallis, the loss of the school house will be in many ways the loss of a friend. The Old Mountain Road resident was among the residents who spearheaded the petition effort five years ago to save the building.
“It exemplifies the center of what was once an incredibly vibrant village here,” said Wallis, who has researched this history of the Agamenticus region of York. “In the 1880s, there was a store, a barber shop, a church, and a lumberyard that sold feed and grain. Eighty children were once signed up to go to the school.”
Wallis said she tries to remain upbeat about the future. “I keep saying, ‘Come on Pamela, buck up. Embrace the fact that there’s going to be a new family here.’ But it’s hard for me to contain my feelings, because I’m losing an old friend,” she said.
Another neighbor, Ken Moulton, 75, went to the Agamenticus School House from grades 1-6, along with his seven brothers and sister. He lives today at the family homestead just up the road, a house built in 1740.
“It was great. I walked home for recess, I walked home for lunch,” he said. Asked what it was like to learn in a one-room school, he said students picked up learning from all grade levels. “Once you started listening, you couldn’t help but listen some more.”
He said it’s a bittersweet day, but said the school house in its current condition “is a mess. If we had been able to save it, I would have supported it. But…”
Construction of Belmonte’s new home is expected to start in September.