Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/585

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��upon the 'west road.' Accordingl}-, in 1835, Jay Smiley, Esq., granted a free lease of ground on the corner of North and Gamble streets, on the spot where the residence of J. J. Smiley now stands, for a schoolhouse, and a frame building' was erected thereon. The building is still standing, having been sold within the past few j-ears to ]Mr. John Schmidt, who now resides in it, on the east side of West street. Into this building, when completed, were moved the desks and five-legged benches formerly in the old one.

" The desks were arranged around the walls on the inside in true primitive style. In this ' new ' schoolhouse first appeared a tin-plate stove, in- stead of the more primitive fire-place. That particular stove was cast at the ' jMary Ann Furnace,' wherever that was.

" Time in this, as in many other things, made constant warfare on things of the past, and soon the old-fashioned slab seats and desks gave way to the more modern desks and seats combined. Finally, a blackboard, a ten-days wonder in its time, came into vogue, and for a long time it was thought a wonderful feat to walk up to that, work a ' sum ' and demon- strate the same upon it.

" From that still comparative!}' earl}' date to the year 1850, but little improvement was no- ticeable in the schools. About that time, the question of taxation of property in support of public schools was agitated. The Legislature, during the years 1851-52-53, passed the Ohio free-school law, considered by many eminent educators the best in the Union, dating from May 3, 1853.

" After the building of the Mansfield, Sandus- ky & Newark railroad through Shelby in 1846, East Shelb}' began to ccAitest for supremacy over the west side, a new schoolhouse became necessary, and was accordingly erected in 1849 on the site now occupied by the Christian Church, near the corner of Broadway and Depot streets.

��" In 1855, the town had grown to such an extent that two new schoolhouses were made necessary, and the buildings now used for pri- mary and secondary school purposes were erected at a cost of about $1,400 each, and the older schoolhouses were disposed of for other purposes.

"Another ten years rolled around, and in 1864, a central or high-school building became a necessit}'. Gen. Eli AVilson offered to sell the site for that purpose, on which, since that date, has been erected the new brick edifice.

" Following the erection of this, came grading of the schools. Excelsior having been early written upon the banner of Shelby educators. Though imperfect at first, this finall}' culminated in the present admirable system adopted in 1869, the Board being then composed of Hiram JMarvin, S. S. Bloom and George W. Billow, who passed the following resolution :

" ' Any scholar completing the course of study prescribed shall be entitled to a certificate of graduation,' since which time, a number of Shelby pupils have secured the honor of gi'ad- uates of the Shelby High School.

" The enumeration of 3'outh in Shelby be- tween the ages of five and twenty-one years, rose from 304 in 1857, to 523 in 1864. In 1874, it had increased to 615.

" At present, there are ten teachers and one superintendent, and about five huntked pupils in daily attendance in the schools of Shelby. At an election held March 22, 1880, the Board of Education was increased in number from three to six members.

" The final improvement in the system of Shelby schools was the erection of the large brick edifice which now stands out in liold re- lief among the man}' handsome buildings which gi-ace the streets of Shelby.

'• On June 26, 1872, while Messrs. E. S. Close, Hiram Marvin and N. H. Loose composed the Board of Education, a proposition was sub- mitted a second time, after having ouce before

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