WENDELL — Recent receipt of $25,000 as part of the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget is driving renovations forward at the 466 Wendell Depot Road site slated to become a historical museum and gift shop.

Wendell Historical Society President Ed Hines said the money arrived earlier this month and will help rebuild the back of what had once been the post office, repair the front porch, rebuild the bulkhead and buy windows.

“My first priority is to do the job right,” Hines said. “We’re very happy and we’re very excited about the future of this building.”

The building served as a depot store and post office for years. The post office portion was torn down in November and Hines said the plan is to rebuild that section of the building as the Goldsmith Museum Store, named after Wallace Goldsmith, who in 1930 built the structure as a home and a barbershop. The store, Hines said, will sell souvenirs like history books and works by local artists and artisans.

“It was a main hang in Wendell Depot,” Hines said of the building.

Work on the roof has been conducted by local contractor Alistair MacMartin.

The $25,000 was secured by state Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown, who toured the facility with society members in June 2023. At the time, the Historical Society was still in the middle of a fundraising campaign to buy the property. Without a museum that the town has desperately needed, Hines explained last year, historical treasures related to Wendell are scattered across town in garages, attics, living rooms and basements.

“I think the folks at the Historical Society have done an incredible job getting the project off the ground,” Saunders told the Greenfield Recorder.

The Democrat representing the 7th Hampden District said important historical projects in small towns often don’t have access to big nonprofits that can provide financial assistance. He said he hopes the 466 Wendell Depot Road project will serve as a springboard for similar efforts.

The Historical Society took ownership of the building in the summer of 2023, closing the sale with Kristina Hartjens, executor of the late Anna “Anny” Hartjens’ estate, on July 12, having negotiated the price down from $65,000 for the organization to be able to purchase it, using funds raised through donations. The elder Hartjens was the town’s postmaster from June 1982 to July 2012. She was also town clerk for the majority of that time and owned the building that housed the former post office and depot store. She died in October 2022, at age 78.

Meanwhile, the Historical Society is wrapping up a holiday pie sale that was organized to raise more money for the cause. Lauren Barton, who runs Diemand Farm’s kitchen, has been baking apple, blueberry and strawberry rhubarb pies that people bought for $23. The ordering deadline has passed but the pies will be picked up between noon and 7 p.m. at 466 Wendell Depot Road on Monday. Barton said the farm signed on due to its employees’ support for the Historical Society.

“It’s a little connection that we all have,” she said.

Donations to the Wendell Historical Society can be made tinyurl.com/WendellDonations.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.