WILTON — Volunteers for the Western Maine Play Museum tore down the oldest of the two houses on the museum property at 561 Main St. on Friday morning. 

A controlled burn begins at 6 a.m. Saturday, fire Chief Sonny Dunham said at the scene.

After the property was donated as a home for the children’s museum earlier this year, work began to renovate and make the main house into a children’s play museum with plans to open in 2015.

Developers intend to use the cleared space for parking.

The house next to Dr. Albert York’s home was purchased by the York family, Dunham said. It is approximately 125 years old and is part of the property donated to the children’s museum by the heirs of the York sisters, Mary and Ruth, who had lived there throughout their lives. They were the daughters of Albert York.

The main York house was built in the early 1900s and this house is a little older, said Scott Taylor, selectman and owner of Taylor Made Homes. Taylor volunteered his equipment and time along with his crew to demolish the building.

Volunteers Dunham and Asst. Chief Kyle Ellis brought a firetruck to spray down the rubble and help control the dust, Dunham said.

The materials were separated into piles for Saturday’s burn. The roof cannot be burned, he said.

“The house and town of Wilton meant a lot to Dr. York and his family,” Ken Sawyer of Wilton, the caretaker of the York estate, previously said. “Their relatives feel that having the house be put to beneficial use is a great way to honor their memory.”

Dr. York delivered and cared for many children from Wilton and surrounding towns, he said.

The building housed his family and his practice of general medicine and surgery, Sawyer added.

“The relatives feel that Dr. York, his wife and children would have taken great pleasure in seeing their home come alive again as a children’s museum and as a step forward in the revival of downtown Wilton,” he said.

abryant@sunjournal.com