In the early 1990s, Bill and Ruth Mercer donated the former circa 1874 school building, located on their farm in rural Hookstown, Beaver County, to the Hookstown Grange.
The school was moved in one piece on a semitrailer to the fairgrounds in 1995. A new roof, missing clapboards, and several coats of paint were applied. Norman Littel, a local stone mason, carved the dates of the school's beginning and ending in a cut stone, 1874-1954. A local Boy Scout built two outhouses.
The school's interior received a new floor and drywall, a pot-bellied stove, antique school-house-style lights, a drinking water bench, a US 48-star flag, a picture of George Washington, and other items. The restored original desks were placed back in their original places, with the preserved carvings of former students.
While removing an old slate blackboard, the volunteers found the original blackboard underneath a portion of the wall. On it was the lesson of the day, consisting of a list of all of the wars that America had been involved in through the Civil War.
Scads of papers were found by Bill Mercer while taking off a decayed hand-hewn sill. Papers folded by students into pieces small enough to be stuffed into a knothole in the wainscoting. One note clearly states: "It doesn't look like this school has been swept in a year." It was signed, "John".
The Mercer School was dedicated on August 25, 1998, to coincide with the opening day of the annual Hookstown Fair.
