OLD OHIO SCHOOLS: THEN and NOW. (Memories of our Youth)

Since 2010 I have been asked to return to my old school and speak to students on the occasion of Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees. In 2012, I had the opportunity to take my ninety-year uncle back to visit his childhood school Willoughby Union High School where he was one of the last living HOF members from the class of ’41.  In recent years I often drove by the old Grand River School and the former Thomas Harvey High School, neither of which remain standing.  Each Tuesday afternoon I pass the Fairport Harbor City Hall and Police Department, which at one time was a village school building.  As a retired teacher I have come to appreciate the memories, hallowed events, and love that each of these educational edifices elicit from students, parents, and colleagues who shared time in their halls and on their grounds.  Throughout these schools existence, they attracted the children of the locals, immigrants, and emigrants from every corner of the globe and from every walk of life.  Children who today continue to throb with as much noise, and vivacity as the buildings of their youth.

An inquiry from a visitor at a recent presentation led me to a website www.oldohioschools.com.  This site is entirely devoted to preserving the memories of all old Ohio Schools by county.  I checked the site and found my former school Euclid Central 1913-1967 was missing.  A quick contact and photo later and ‘The Lions Den’ was part of local lore.  As curator of a Concord Township Schoolhouse, I found it too was not listed.  It was added this week.  The site contains pictures of retired schools, endangered schools, and abandoned schools.  It also contains pictures and brief bios of schools gone but not forgotten, status unknown and those still functional.  Architectural insignia and cornerstones grace another link on the site.

Whether you attended P.S. 10, Old Center Street High School in Mentor, Prouty Road School or Gildersleeve School in Kirtland, a look at this website is a celebration of each communities great past. It is also one captivating way to look at the way in which our hometowns have changed and evolved.  Again www.oldohioschools.com – a hidden gem and nugget to our past.

Submitted by Dan Maxson

Local Lore by Max – The News-Herald Media Lab 2010-2016 – Volunteer Trustee FHHS / Fairport Harbor Lighthouse & Marine Museum  –          Volunteer Curator / Docent – Old Stone Schoolhouse in Concord Twp.