Masterton District Council and the Department of Conservation were thanked for their on-going support, "and for encouraging our dedicated committee to keep striving to achieve our objective of restoring this magnificent heritage building".
Committee member Bill Taylor said access would have been cut to the school under the planned siting at Mauriceville West of a water storage pond, as one of nine proposed sites in the wider region, for use in the Wairarapa Water Use Project.
The plan to store water at Mauriceville West had been since abandoned, Mr Taylor, said, after proponents "thankfully realised they would not capture much water there, like we kept telling them".
The water-use project, which has the potential to irrigate 66,000ha of Wairarapa Valley by collecting and storing water for distribution, first mooted 243 potential sites throughout the region for use as storage ponds. That number was slashed to just nine, including Mauriceville West.
The Mauriceville West proposal drew significant community fire, including claims the small storage area would interfere with road access to the historic school and isolate the historic Lutheran church and cemetery.
Flooding of South Rd and Queen St in Mauriceville West also would have put seven homes under water while severing the road between Mauriceville and Mauriceville West, and opponents claimed the site benefits would be minimal for farmers as well.
"They couldn't seem to get it through their heads that the proposal threatened more than just a cemetery," Mr Taylor said.
Mauriceville had been home to more than 70 Scandinavian settler families who had "carved out a life", he said, while also working to clear the then 112km bush that distinguished Wairarapa.
A school was established in 1877 on Education Board land at Mauriceville West and a new building was constructed in 1886, according to the National Register of Archives and Manuscripts website.
Class rolls gradually declined after 1900 until 1973 when the school amalgamated with Mauriceville East School.
