One-Room Schoolhouse Clippings 1921 – 1951

As noted in yesterday's post, many of Lorain County's one-room schoolhouses (brick or stone) dated back to the 1870s. But we weren't too far into the 20th Century when the handwriting was on the wall (or blackboard, if you prefer): the days of those one-room school houses were numbered. That was a consistent theme in the newspapers that ran concurrently with Lorain County's effort to keep many of those schools open.

This selection of news clippings tell the tale. The Amherst News-Times of November 17, 1921 made an early prediction about the "little red school" becoming obsolete.

This item from the Lorain Journal of Nov. 14, 1922 agrees, noting "The little brick school house, along with other one-room institutions of learning, is gradually becoming a thing of the past in Ohio."

By 1928, some of the people that attended those one-room schools were getting up in years. This article from the March 3, 1928 Lorain Journal tells of the newly organized McGuffey Readers club and their meeting in the new Lorain Hotel.

The demise of the one-room schoolhouse was being anticipated on a national level as well, as noted in this nostalgic piece from the May 6, 1929 Lorain Journal.

Meanwhile, in Elyria a fire mysteriously struck one of the still-surviving one-room schools, as noted in the article from the Sept. 15, 1931 Lorain Journal.

My current home city of Vermilion sold two of its three one-room school houses as reported in the Lorain Journal of April 5, 1935. One was the Joppa school house; the other was the West Lake-rd schoolhouse.

The Elyria-township board of education moved to close its one-room Maplewood school as noted in this piece from the May 3, 1935 Lorain Journal. 

A small blurb in the March 14, 1936 Xenia Daily Gazette noted that an upcoming meeting in Elyria would decide the fate of many of the county's one-room schoolhouses.

And this March 21, 1936 article reports on that fight to keep many of the Lorain County one-room schoolhouses open. It provides a nice listing of which ones were still in use, including one on Gulf Road, two in Amherst Township, and several in Russia and Pittsfield Townships.

This small filler item from the July 3, 1936 Lorain Journal noted that that the "Midwest is the last stronghold of the one-room school."

This item from May 6, 1937 provides a nice snapshot of the status of little one-room schoolhouses in Ohio at that time.

Amherst Township was fighting to keep its two one-room schoolhouses (one on Middle Ridge, one on South Ridge) in this piece from the August 8, 1937 Lorain Journal.

The closing of three one-room schoolhouses in Russia Township is mentioned in this news item from the April 6, 1938 Lorain Journal.

Another filler piece (from April 25, 1938) notes the dwindling number of one-room schoolhouses in the U. S.

The one-room Murray Ridge schoolhouse got a reprieve from the state and re-opened, as noted in this article from the Sept. 3, 1938 Lorain Journal.

One-room red brick schoolhouses were rapidly becoming nostalgic fodder for advertising, as seen in the ad for Lorain Banking Company that ran in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 13, 1939.

Sadly, it was reported that Florence's one-room schoolhouse in Erie County would not be open in the fall of 1939, as reported in this article from the August 29, 1939 Lorain Journal. 

A wistful essay by Edwin C. Hill on the passing of the little red schoolhouse ran in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 29, 1940.

Avon looked back at the 17 years that has passed since its last one-room schoolhouse had closed in this article from Sept. 5, 1940.

But surprisingly, the Middle Ridge one-room schoolhouse in Amherst Township was still open – and winning an award for high attendance – in this small article from De. 9, 1940.

But the state of Ohio put its foot down on the subject of one-room schoolhouses, as noted in this article from June 3, 1948.

The two one-room stone schoolhouses in Amherst Township lasted – amazingly – until 1951. This story from the Sept. 7, 1951 Amherst News-Times explains.

Building Red Brick Schoolhouses

The construction of the little red brick schoolhouses in Lorain County was handled pretty much like it is now, with the first step being the solicitation of bids from contractors.

Below are several clippings inviting contractors to submit proposals for the building of brick school houses in Lorain County. The first two listings are from July 1873, for the building of a school in Sub District 3 and Sub District 6 in Sheffield Township.

From the Elyria Independent Democrat, July 9, 1873

From the Elyria Independent Democrat, July 30, 1873

This listing from August 21, 1879 is also for Sheffield Township. This school was to be built in Sub District No. 7.

Elyria Republican, August 21, 1879

On the 1896 Sheffield Township map below, I've indicated where a single school was located in each of the three Sub Districts mentioned in the ads. 

And finally, here is an ad that ran in the Elyria Republican on June 24, 1886 soliciting proposals for the building of a brick schoolhouse in Sub-District No. 7 in Carlisle Township.

Two Little Red Brick Schoolhouse Teachers Retire – 1950s

That's Mrs. Eppley in the back row on the far right, in front of the old
red brick schoolhouse that stood on the NE corner of Meister and Leavitt Roads.

Near the bottom of yesterday's blog post about Amherst Township one-room schoolhouses, guest blogger Rick Kurish made an interesting observation. 

"Not that I’m old or anything," he noted, "but I remember Mrs. Eppley, the teacher shown in your photo of the old Meister Road school. When I was in grade school in Amherst, she was still teaching at the old Central School that I attended!"

Mrs. Eppley's teaching career started at that one-room red brick schoolhouse. (I did a 5-part series on it starting back here.)

The red-brick schoolhouse at Meister and Leavitt Ads

A nice profile of her that appeared in the Lorain Journal on May 12, 1955 near the time of her retirement tells the story.

The article noted, "Mrs. Eppley started her career in January 1910 in the little red brick schoolhouse where the black river fire station now stands. It had been closed 11 years and had become a wildlife habitat, including plenty of snakes. Snakes and children are intimately associated in her memory with the two and one half years she spent there."

The article also mentions two other one-room schools at which she taught, "the school at Foster Park, now remodeled into the Old Stone Villa," and one at Ormsby's Corners in Amherst Township, which was "in the shadow of the new turnpike" and "is now a dwelling."

Mrs. Eppley also made the front page of the Amherst News -Times on May 13, 1955. The story provides a much more detailed account of her life and career.

****

Meanwhile, Avon Lake also bid farewell to a longtime teacher who also taught in a little red brick schoolhouse. The January 11, 1952 Lorain Journal had the story of Mrs. Edith Diedrich, who taught at the one-room school located at the corner of Lake and Moore Roads. The article also notes, "At that time there were three other red brick school buildings in the village – one at Walker and Avon Belden Roads, one on Walker Road east of Lear Road and now occupied by the local American Legion Post and the other on Lake Road opposite Jaycox Road."

Both Mrs. Eppley and Mrs. Diedrich were dedicated teachers with careers bridging two very different eras of public education. They had a unique ringside seat for the evolution of the modern school.

Will a longtime teacher retiring today wax nostalgic about teaching in the pre-internet and pre-cell phone era?

Rick Kurish Looks at Amherst Twp. Schoolhouses

I have a few posts scheduled for this week dealing with one-room schoolhouses, and I thought I'd lead off with a post that is – to put it in school terms – tardy.

Longtime blog contributor Rick Kurish sent me this reminisce eight years ago. It's a look at a few of the well-known former one-room schoolhouses that had served Amherst Township. As he notes, the photos are courtesy of two publications: Amherst Reflections and Quarry Town. 

(I'd been saving Rick's material to use as part of a multi-post series on one-room schoolhouses that I never got around to researching. But like many a teacher said: "Time's up!" So I'm posting it now and asking Rick's forgiveness for the delay.)

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Amherst Township Schoolhouses

By Rick Kurish

Ever since I was a kid in Amherst I have been intrigued by the old township schoolhouses scattered around Amherst Township. 

I don’t know if it was part of the requirement for contractors building the schools in Amherst Township or not, but the schools in Amherst Township all seem to be of sandstone construction. As a consequence, the buildings were extremely sturdy, and somewhat esthetically appealing. This combination of factors probably accounts for the continued existence of many of the buildings today. 

I have attached a few pictures from the publications “Amherst Reflections” and "Quarry Town” which are rather typical representations of the buildings. 

The first two photos show an old schoolhouse located on Milan Avenue. 

During my childhood, the building served as the Hickory Tree Grange, and the building is shown as it existed in the 1950s and 1960s. The second photo shows the building, restored as an historical schoolhouse at the Amherst Sandstone Museum Center. The building still sits where it was originally built. 

The next two photos show a schoolhouse that was originally located on Spring Street in Amherst. 

The first photo shows it had been converted into a home and it was still on Spring Street. The Amherst hospital bought the land to expand their parking lot so the building was moved to the Sandstone museum Center where it was again made into a chapel (as shown in the second photo). 

I have also included a photo of the old schoolhouse at Whiskeyville, which I believe was demolished or removed when Rt. 58 was widened around 1960. 

There are at least three other old sandstone schools still standing in Amherst Township that I am aware of. Two are residences: one at the corner of Rt. 113 and Bechtel Road, and the other on Middle Ridge Road between Rt. 58 and Pyle - South Amherst Road. 

Former school at 113 and Bechtel Road

Former school on Middle Ridge

An additional old sandstone school, also on Middle Ridge Road is familiar as the home of the Workshop Players. 

Interestingly, I have somewhere a picture of the older wooden schoolhouse that stood on that site, When the sandstone structure was built, the wooden structure was moved to a farm a few hundred feet west, where I believe it still exists. 

Things I haven’t thought about for a long time that were triggered by your blog. By the way, not that I’m old or anything, but I remember Mrs. Eppley, the teacher shown in your photo of the old Meister Road school. When I was in grade school in Amherst she was still teaching at the old Central School that I attended!

Kmart's Raccoon Mascot - Sept. 1975

Did you know that Kmart once had a cartoon raccoon mascot for their 'Building Materials' advertisements?

I didn't either. But there he was, wearing a painters cap emblazoned with a large 'K,' in several Kmart ads during the summer of 1975. 

July 10, 1975

August 7, 1975

Sept. 4, 1975

Why a raccoon and not a beaver – nature's bucktoothed construction expert? I have no idea.

Nevertheless, I was curious how long this ring-tailed varmint was used by Kmart in its ads. So I did a Google search – only to be told by Google's AI Overview that I was apparently cracking up. Read what it said for yourself.

"The raccoon mascot and connection to Kmart is a widespread misconception, and the two are not related," it says. Widespread indeed.

"The idea of a Kmart raccoon mascot is an example of a '"mandela effect," where a large number of people collectively misremember the same fact," it says.

A large number of people? I'm probably the only person on Planet Earth thinking about this.

Harrumph.