“Shawmut saved the Monopoly board because it was clear that it meant a lot to the Wayland community,” said the head of the project, Michael O’Conner.

The administration had investigated the possibility of removing the Monopoly board from the old school and mounting it on the new school but had little success finding a solution.

“When we took everything into consideration, taking it down, finding a place to put it, storing it, making a new base structure and refurnishing it, the total cost was going to be $30,000,” said Dean of Students Scott Parseghian. “The Building Committee took that quote and told us there was no way they could spent that amount of money on the board.”

Instead, the board was professionally digitalized and electronically saved so it could be reproduced in any format at the new school. Compared to the $30,000, this only cost between $1,000 and $2,000.

However, as the buildings began coming down, students and parents began to wonder what was going to happen to the mural.

“Shawmut gave us an estimation of $2,200 just to remove it from the Arts building, but we had to tell parents that we couldn’t save the board because we didn’t have the money,” Parseghian said.

Some parents contacted other parents and businesses to try to collect enough donations to save the mural before the Arts Building was demolished but they were unable to raise the necessary amount.

A few hours before the Arts Building was scheduled to go down, Shawmut made the decision to save the Monopoly Board.

“They really stepped up,” said Parseghian. “It was awesome they did that. They knew how much it meant to everyone.”

“Knowing that the Monopoly Board meant so much to so many people in the community and having the opportunity to help preserve this valued item was an honor for the construction team,” said project manager Lauren Slaven.

The Monopoly board is currently in storage but there are no plans for where the Monopoly Board will be hung on the new school.