From left, Frank Libby, Frank Hollister, and Alton Merrow prepare to "blow the big rock" at the Pond School in St. Albans during the Improvement Day activities on April 28, 1922.

The remodeling started in 1918, the year A. Irene Libby came to teach. She instituted the Improvement League, for the condition of the school was rapidly declining. At first students tackled the repairs and made some items such as shelves, but soon parents, neighbors, and friends turned out to help. Pupils sold soap orders and cut firewood to help earn money for such items as a fireless cooker, a water jar and a screen door.