The Westport Historical Society's Bell School is being moved, though you might not notice unless you look really, really close.

Workers from Aquidneck Movers have begun raising the old school building slightly to allow contractors better access to the foundation, which has needed repair for years. They spent the last few weeks and the early part of this week running massive steel I-beams under the 1841 structure, and are expected to jack up the building just enough to allow better access once all the supports are in place.

"It's quite a lot of work," said the society's Jenny O'Neill.

The need for repairs "goes back to when they built a basement in the 1970s," she said. Though it was a "lovely dry, spacious basement, the foundation that they built at the time was never the correct measurements, so the sill never sat properly on the foundation."

With better access, it should not be difficult to make appropriate repairs over the coming several months, she said.

Big plans

The foundation work, which is fully funded, comes as voters will be asked at the Tuesday, May 3 Town Meeting to approve a grant that will facilitate a major "re-imagining" of the old building. The society is asking for a $350,000 Community Preservation Act grant to help complete the overall project, and O'Neill said the grant will be a "keystone" to a broader fund-raising campaign, as the grant won't cover all the work needed.

The ultimate plan is to improve the building and make it more relevant to the public, as well as useful to the society's current needs, she said.

"Our vision for the future of the Bell School is as a 'history center' — a hybrid space combining elements of a visitor/information center/museum/library — offering resources for residents, researchers and tourists to learn more about Westport’s history and providing space and a stable environment for preserving our collection of historical archives and objects."

Once completed, dedicated and expanded storage for the society's archives and collections will be built into the basement and second floor, and a visitor center with interpretive displays and other amenities will be designed into the first floor.

Currently, O'Neill said, the historical society "is unable to meet basic museum standards for the physical care and management" of its collections.

"Much of the collection was stored in the most vulnerable part of the building, the small addition located at the rear of the building. This part of the structure which houses a small performing stage, was added in 1907."

The building's exterior appearance will not change, O'Neill said.

What else?

Other aspects of the project include:

* Reconstruction of the failing “stage addition” at the rear of the school, repurposed to house a small office and to accommodate a stairway connecting basement, first floor and second floor.

* Finishing and waterproofing the basement for storage purposes.

* Creation of archival storage on the second floor.

* New mechanical systems to store records and archives.

* A welcoming public entrance.

* A handicap accessible restroom.

* Refreshed layout of the public space on the first floor.

On the first floor alone, changes will include:

* Small-scale, changing displays of historical objects.

* Resources for researchers including most commonly used documents, maps and photos.

* A comfortable community documentation space for promoting interaction and engagement with visitors.

* Space for processing and cataloging the collection by volunteers and staff.

* An audio-visual/technology component to present educational content about the history of Westport.