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.