Repairs & Renovations

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Following construction of the Green School in 1871, the schoolhouse appears to have been well cared for. In 1887, it was valued at $1,000, the same sum as the schools at Waterville, South Middleborough, Fall Brook, Wappanucket and Purchade. Only the central schools – the high school, School Street and Union Street – were valued higher.

Periodic repairs were made to the building including those in 1876-77 by James P. Sparrow, the builder of the school, for which he was paid $5.50. In 1881, Sparrow was paid $9.02 for repairs to the Green and Fall Brook schools and the following year, D. F. Wood was paid $5.75 for similar work to the school. Unspecified repairs continued to be made by Horatio N. Wilbur (1886, 1887, 1889, 1905), Warren Wood (1888), Fred C. Sparrow (1907, 1914, 1919), Herbert Erickson (1907), J. J. Fowler (1914), and F. A. Johnson (1917). A more substantial interior renovation was completed in 1907, with $59.47 worth of material from J. K. & B. Sears, by Eben Jones. In 1895 and 1919 new floors were laid in the building, and in 1895 the roof was reshingled.

In 1912 and 1925, the building is stated to have been "thoroughly renovated", though the nature of these changes is not known. Possibly it was in 1925, that the three bays of the facade were altered from dual entrances flanking a large 6-over-6 sash window to two smaller windows on either side of a single doorway. At some unknown point, electric lighting, a bathroom and a modern oil-burning furnace were installed.

Throughout its history, the Green School was painted a number of times, though most likely not red, that color actually being uncommon for schools. Similarly, it appears that only in later years has the building been painted green, undoubtedly a play upon its name. Most likely it was painted white with dark trim. Such is the color scheme indicated in an early photograph of the Fall Brook School which was built by Sparrow just one year after the Green and is likely to have shared the same plan. The earliest known photograph of the Green, dating from about 1906 depicts a a color scheme of white trim work, a pale body of either white, buff or light gray, and dark doors and window trim. Following 1871, the building was first repainted in 1878 by H. A. Sparrow who was paid $28.00 for painting the building, and then again in 1888. The building may have gone unpainted for several years for in 1902 Superintendent Bates noted that a number of the suburban schools were in need of painting, and the following year, the Green School was repainted, along with those at Nemasket, Thompsonville and Thomastown. The exterior was repainted in 1910 at which time the interior was done as well, the total work costing $79.51. In 1925, the exterior and interior were again repainted, with the interior being renovated at the time. Interior repainting is also recorded as having been done in 1895 and 1899.

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