The battle to reclaim East Lawrence’s historic significance is playing out this week as work proceeds on an 1860s-era home that will soon feature exhibits about race and class.

The two-room Murphy-Bromelsick House, part of a memorial at Hobbs Park to Lawrence abolitionist John Speer, was full of scaffolding and wet plaster Monday as a local resident refurbished the home’s ceiling. The people who have been pushing for years to see the home turned into a museum will reach a milestone March 21 when its first temporary exhibit opens.

Speer, largely forgotten in history books, was an abolitionist who lived on land at what is now the park’s edge, said Mark Kaplan, one of the memorial’s organizers. Several years ago, crews moved the two-room home 300 yards from its original location at 909 Pa. to the Speer site.

The move was part of an effort to better preserve the neighborhood’s heritage, Kaplan said.

The first exhibit, titled “First Blood: Kansas Prelude to Civil War,” features photos and text documenting the state’s pre-Civil War days. It later will travel throughout the state.

Lawrence resident Ben Graham was busy inside the home Monday smoothing gypsum plaster across the ceilings. His work, part of a $100,000 federal grant the project received recently, is one of the first major interior renovations at the home.

Graham, one of an ever-shrinking number of craftsmen who specializes in so-called “wet” plastering, said he appreciated the historic significance of his work.

“It helps people to remember what their history was,” he said. “It makes them conscious of the beginnings of this community.”

Ben Graham, Lawrence, applies plaster to the ceiling at the Murphy-Bromelsick House in East Lawrence. Graham is helping to renovate the 1860s-era home, which is part of a memorial to Lawrence abolitionist John Speer.