Construction at the Spaulding Building

If you're driving by the Vermont History Center in Barre in the next couple of weeks, you'll see some pretty dramatic things taking place. A large, covered scaffolding has been erected on the front of the building, while excavators and workers are busy digging up the grounds. What's going on? 

The answer: improvements to the historic Spaulding School building!

The building originally opened in September 1892, where it served as an elementary, middle, and high school for the city of Barre more than a century. It has undergone considerable changes in that time. As the city grew, so too did the student population: in 1914, the city constructed an addition that included an auditorium, a gymnasium, and six additional classroom spaces. The city eventually moved its students moved to new school buildings, first to the new Spaulding High School in 1965, and the remainder to the Barre City Elementary and Middle School in 1995.

In 2000, the Vermont Historical Society took over the building, transforming it into the Vermont History Center. It's now home to the Leahy Library, our artifact collection, administrative and exhibit spaces, as well as the offices of the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Archaeology Heritage Center.

Now more than 130 years old, the Spaulding building remains a beautiful fixture in Barre's skyline, but like any older structure, it requires upkeep and renovation. These latest projects focus on ensuring that the building remains dry in order to protect our collection spaces. While the building was well above the flooding that took place in Barre in 2023, the precipitation clogged and damaged the drainage systems near the building, and we did experience some water infiltration in the basement.

In the coming weeks, workers will be working on three major projects. The first will fix and upgrade those drainage systems and waterproof the exterior basement walls, which will help keep water out of the basement. The second part concerns the exterior of the building as workers work to fix the bricks, repairing the masonry that's aged with time and weather. This process is called repointing, where the damaged or weathered jointing between the bricks is removed, and refilled with new mortar. The third phase of the project will repair and replace sections of the roof to prevent leaking.

Together, these projects will help keep the Spaulding building and our collections it contains in good order, preserving Vermont's history for future generations.  

The VHC will remain open throughout the construction work that will take place in the coming weeks: visitors can enter through the entrance on Washington Street. Keep an eye on our social media and blog for updates.