Little Red Schoolhouse Becomes Girl Scouts Cottage – July 1930

At one time, our Lorain County countryside was dotted with little red brick schoolhouses built in the late 1800s. There were quite a few of them indicated on vintage Township maps, especially from the 1870s onward. (I’ve written about a few of these schoolhouses, including the one at Meister and Leavitt that served Black River Township.)

By the 1930s, however, many of the schoolhouses had outlived their usefulness and sat empty, having been replaced with larger, modern schools. This meant that they were either abandoned or repurposed as something else.

One of those schoolhouses that saw new life was featured on the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald of July 3, 1930. It was located on the Burrell farm on the east side of what is today East River Road, just a short distance from Colorado Avenue (State Route 611).

On the same page was a short article noting how the Lorain Lions Club had remodeled the schoolhouse into a cottage for use by the Girl Scouts as a base for hikes and other activities. 

You can see where the schoolhouse was located on this 1896 Sheffield Township map.

The Images of America - Sheffield Village book by Charles E. Herdendorf includes a photo of the schoolhouse prior to its conversion to Trails End cottage.

The book’s caption reads, “This 1880 redbrick district school was located on the East River Road near the Sheffield Congregational church. Grades one through eight were taught on the main level, and the board of education occupied the basement.”

Today, the school’s former location is part of James Day Park, and it doesn’t appear that the building is still there, assuming it was constructed near the road like many other schoolhouses. But perhaps a bit of the foundation survives, hidden in the woods under the thick forest canopy that has arisen in the past 80+ years.