The One-Room Schoolhouse at Meister and Leavitt – Part 2

Looking at old Black River Township maps, it seems that a school was not located at the intersection of Meister and Leavitt until the 1874 version.

A school also appeared at that location on the 1896 map.

So the 1827 date associated with the school in the Arcadia book may be a little early.

The Herrick Memorial Library website includes a great photo of a one-room schoolhouse and also helps establish a timeframe for them in the county. Its caption reads: “From 1850 to 1925 Lorain County crossroads were dotted with brick, stone and wooden one-room school houses similar to the one pictured here, now a residence.

An article in the May 13, 1955 Amherst News-Times includes a glimpse of the Black River Township school when it was in use. The article was about the retirement of Mrs. Ethel Eppley from the Central school in Amherst that year. The article noted that she started teaching in January 1910 at the Black River school, where she taught 2 1/2 years before her marriage to Frank Eppley.

A great photo of her with her class in front of the Black River Township school states that the “photo was taken of her first class, back in 1910, in Black River Twp., at the site where the Black River Fire Station is now located, Meister and Leavitt roads.

Mrs. Eppley is in the back row, at the far right

Another article in the Amherst News-Times may possibly shed some light on when the Black River Township school was no longer used for its original purpose. The September 14, 1922 edition notes that school enrollment had reached its highest number in years, and that “W. V. Marshall is bringing the students from the Black River school, which is north of town, to Amherst and is using the bus which was used to bring the Clough Quarry children last year.”

I’m not certain, however, if the “Black River school” mentioned is the one at Meister and Leavitt, or the one that was located at the corner of Kolbe Road and Longbrook Road that was dismantled and used to build Joe Ule’s Storybook House.

Next: A new use for the Black River schoolhouse