The One Room Schoolhouse
The first schoolhouse in the Northampton Township was in 1809 and the teacher was Justus Remington. By 1875 there were eight one room schoolhouses.
A story of the early settlers in the area relates how an Indian accidently burst into a little schoolhouse where the teacher was in session with the children and he stood amazed and looked around saying " Much papoose, Much papoose" the teacher blushed because he thought all the children were hers!
These schools housed 8 grades and all were taught by one teacher. The most known one was the Center Being in the township Center, it stood on the SW corner of the Northampton Rd and West Bath Rd. Built in 1875 by John C Johnston, this site was also the site of the orginial Town Hall which may have served as the school as well. With the erection of the brick new school up Northampton Rd in 1928 the one rooms were eventually abandoned and the Center school was moved to the Quine Farm in 1937.
In 1975 the little school's centennial, the Northampton Historical Society and Carrie Keyser-Swain, who was part of the alumni of the school, began restoration. They were able to move the school back to the Center on the NE corner beside the new WPA Town Hall. On August 22,1982 a dedication ceremony took place with a gathering of the alumni. This was an official opening of the finished school with all the items, desks, befitting the period of 1875 as it was on it's first day. In the new basement equipped with a nice modern kitchen the society had displays of their collection. Serving as a museum and social place to hold various functions, tours, and the annual Christmas Party. The guest book from 1982 to 1992 lists 2000 visitors. On July 12, 1992 a tornado took the little schoolhouse off it's foundation and carried it 75 feet away smashing it flat and the winds strew papers and artifacts as far away as Streetsboro.Some of the teachers at the Center School were:
- Arad Osborn 1892
- Edith Koontz
- Mollie Scott 1907-08 1908-09
- Rachel Thornburg 1909-10
- Adelia Yearly 1910-11
- AR Fulton 1911-12
- Raymond McCuskey 1912-13
This teacher attended Oberlin College and later taught at Cuyahoga Falls HIgh School
- Minnie Daniels 1913-16
- Flora Wise 1916-17
- Mary Mossler 1917-18
- Garnet Cox 1918-19
- Kathryn Drinkwater, Misses Chapman, Merlin 1924
- Margaret Huff, Pearl Myers, Helen Brown 1927-28
- Iron Bridge located on the corner of State Rd and Graham Rd.
- Steels Corners
- Hart's Corner
- Old Portage
- and Smith.
source...publications of the Northampton HIstorical Society on the Center School.
submitted by Dreama Powell