Ward-Thomas Museum
Central School
Ward — Thomas
Museum
Home of the Niles Historical Society
503 Brown Street Niles, Ohio 44446
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Front entrance
to Central High School. PO1.1177 |
Central High School. Central High School or Union School- Between 1854 and 1870 the population of Niles had mushroomed from 1000 to 3000 people. The need for better educational facilities resulted in the building of the city's first high school. Its construction began in 1870 and it opened in May 1871, with six teachers, including the principal. It was built at Furnace Street and Church Street. It was a red brick building with three stories and a basement, and cost $37,980. The first brick school, Central School, was located on Furnace Street, now State Street, near Church Street. The building was a three story brick structure with arched windows and brick details on each corner of the building. The road was dirt and transportation was by horse and wagon. The three story brick and mortar Central School building opened in 1871. Frank Carl E. Robbins was the first student to graduate from Cental School in 1875. There were six teachers employed including the principal. The bell for the tower was cast by A. Fulton and Sons of Pittsburgh, PA. After a fire in the mid 1920's, Central School was demolished and a public park was erected on that site with a band pavillion and wading pool. Link to Central Park history. |
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Location of Central High School on 1924 map. |
Front view of Central School showing front entrance, brickwork and steeple. PO1.1178 |
Postcard of Central High School, ca 1895. |
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1908 study hall at Old Central School. PO1.1176
1898 second grade class at Central School. Teacher Bertha Mason. PO1.1172 Front row: Bill Sayers , third from left and Anna Rider, fourth from right. John Sandman is third from right in the third row and the boy in the back row with a large white collar is Homer Thomas who became City Auditor. |
1908 Central School graduation picture. This was the largest class to graduate since the school opened in 1871. PO1.1175 L to R :1st row: Alma Morrell Woods, Lida Crooks, Hazel Butler Tritt, Viola DeGarmo, Edna Cornwall and Anna Hughes Johnson. Five in back of the first row: Mable Cramer, Clyde (that's right) Armstrong, Mae Holeton, Nellie Fisher and Clyde Stillwagon. Back row: Lee Goehring, Sophia Tibbets Shaw, Salina Evans Rettig, Mary Patterson Hunt, Olive Carlton, Mae Lloyd Bostwick, Olive Erwin, Hazel Hanson Law, Mae Watson, Ida Armstrong and Ruth Cleverly. |
Central High School JuniorClass
of 1903.
Photo of a class of younger children from Central School taken1895. Note the boy in the upper right peeking in the school window. PO1.1612 |
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1917-Central High School girls. |
Early one room Niles schoolhouse. Notice there is a door for the females and one for the males. The sign on the left is a warning to anyone who might consider trespassing and was posted by the Board of Education. PO1.1614 |
Not all children attended Central School as there were several neighborhood one-room scchools throughout the city. A group of schoolchildren posed with their teacher on the front steps of a school identified on the chalkboard as Walnut Street School No. 2. PO1.1534 |
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