STAR LAKE — A two-year grass-roots effort to save an 1800s schoolhouse is progressing, with ceiling replacement and interior painting expected soon.

"The look will be of the era but with modern material," said George W. Persson, president of Save Our School, a division of the Clifton-Fine Economic Development Corp.

Volunteers already have painted the outside, installed one handicapped-accessible door and have a second one ready to put in, ripped down a dropped ceiling and made other updates. Bathroom renovation will come next.

"I'm not saying it's a two-seater, but it's old," Mr. Persson said.

Eventually, the building on Route 3 will house a display of pictures and artifacts from early businesses, along with a reading area.

"It has to do with the people who settled here before the Adirondack Park Agency," Mr. Persson said. "It's the story of the townships of Clifton and Fine. It'll probably never be done because the community changes as the people change."

The town of Fine has owned the building for at least 40 years, using it as a tourist information center and food pantry site. It was left empty when the towns of Fine and Clifton opened a community center across the street in 2005.

The Fine Town Council was mulling the building's future when SOS, a group of about two dozen, stepped forward to make sure it wasn't demolished.

"We're still excited about it," said Anita L. Persson, Mr. Persson's wife and fellow volunteer. "It didn't die out."

The work by the citizens group pleases the Fine Town Council.

"We're happy they're doing what they're doing and wish them the best," Supervisor Mark C. Hall said. "That could go on for a long time."

A series of fundraisers over the past two years has allowed SOS to pay for some of the work it wants done. It began advertising this week for bids for interior renovations.

"Thus far, our volunteers have been fantastic," Mr. Persson said. "We don't want to burn them out."