Audubon Junior High School, a massive, abandoned middle school in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio, was built in 1922 on Cleveland’s southeast side. The architect was Walter McCornack. Several additions were made to the school over the years, including a classroom and cafeteria wing on the south side of the building. The school had two gymnasiums connected by a bridge behind the building that ran through the middle of the boiler room. In later years, Audubon was used for students with learning and behavioral disabilities, making it one of the more challenging schools to teach in. It closed in 2010 as part of a district-wide restructuring, and has been vacant since. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 18, 2022.
Hund School is a historic one-room schoolhouse northwest of the city of Leavenworth in Leavenworth County, Kansas. A wood bungalow, it was built in 1939 on land donated to the local school district by Wendelin and Josephine Hund in 1882. It replaced an earlierr school building that was destroyed in a fire.
The school building is typical of other rural schoolhouses built in Kansas. Within the building is a cloakroom, classroom with built-in library shelves, and a basement. Outside the school building is a hand-pump for water and an outhouse. The school operated from 1939 to 1965, serving primarily children of German heritage within walking distance.
Hund School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In 2000, the building was used as a storefront for Hund School Crafts. It is the last one-room schoolhouse remaining in its original form, inside and out, in Leavenworth County.
Canton School is a historic one-room schoolhouse located at 14723 3rd Ave. at South St. in the unincorporated community of Canton, Iowa, on National Register of Historic Places. 3rd Ave. is the first street west of the bridge on County E17. This building was used for both the school and church. The school building was built in 1877 of locally quarried, roughly-dressed limestone, laid in a random ashlar pattern. The main facade, however, is faced with concrete brick that is original to the structure. What is unusual about this building is its decorative elements, as most one-room schoolhouses built in Iowa were plain. The eaves and the two-stage wooden bell tower are edged with rather delicate wooden trim, and the windows are capped with concrete keystone hoods. The use of concrete is rather sophisticated for a building in the vernacular-folk architectural style in stone. The building served as a school until 1966 when the area’s school districts were reorganized. It served as a church until 1968, and it is now surrounded by a park. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. As of 2016 a group called Friends of Canton School is working to restore the structure.
In 1881, a schoolhouse sat just east of where the Redkey and Camden Pike intersected with the Portland and Blaine Pike on the land of William Shields in Knox Township, Jay County, Indiana. Six years later, an atlas labeled the school as District 6. Today, that intersection is where Indiana State Road 1 crosses County Road 200-South between Redkey and Pennville. The nearest town is Dunkirk, Indiana. Believe it or not, the area surrounding the schoolhouse was once a community known as Oak Grove. Although it was never platted, the neighborhood featured the school, a Methodist Episcopal Church, and even a post office from 1896 to 1902. By estimation, the Oak Grove area consists of about thirteen homes, the church, and the old schoolhouse today.
The extant Romanesque Revival schoolhouse at 200 S. West and State Road 1 was built in 1913 during George G. Philebaum’s tenure as the trustee of Knox Township. It featured a large classroom, along with two smaller alcoves used as a cloakroom and a home economics area where girls practiced sewing. The structure sat on a full basement that was used for recess in bad weather with a corner coal room. The building’s most prominent feature -its tower- housed a clap bell that students competed against each other for the chance to ring. Jasper Reynolds was its first teacher at the brick schoolhouse.
The majority of Knox Township’s schoolhouses followed a T-shaped plan where an entry vestibule led to a larger classroom. A road contractor from Blackford County named Marion Creek was responsible for erecting those identical schoolhouses, and he was known to cut corners as he built them. It’s unclear if he was responsible for the design of the Oak Grove schoolhouse, but he was certainly uninvolved in building the nearby Goodwill schoolhouse, which was completed two years later and shares many of its architectural characteristics with Oak Grove.
A lawsuit brought before Jay County Circuit Court Judge R.D. Wheat compelled the area’s remaining rural schoolhouse to close after the 1939-40 school year. Frank E. Cline was Oak Grove’s final teacher, and its students were sent to Pennville for the 1940-41 term. The schoolhouse was used as a corn crib in the years after it closed. In 1968, the 160-acre William Smith farm on which it sat was proposed to become the site of one of two new Jay County high schools. Ultimately, the Jay County School Corporation chose to erect a single building southwest of Portland, which was completed in 1975. In 2010, the northwest side of the building’s roof was still standing, as was a concrete stairway that led to its entrance. Today, the striking building is abandoned and in ruins.
Shiloh College is a historic school building located at 13043 Walnut Street in Shiloh Hill, Illinois. Preparations for Shiloh College’s founding began in 1836. In 1839, area residents purchased 80 acres for the school and the Illinois legislature officially incorporated the college. Shiloh College’s students included John A. Logan, the future Civil War general, Congressman, candidate for Vice President, and founder of Memorial Day. By 1896, the college was financially strapped, ceased operations, and leased the building to the Shiloh Hill school district. The only surviving building from Shiloh College is a Greek Revival building constructed in 1881.
The building served as a public school until 1954, when the school was consolidated into Trico School District. It is one of two one-room schoolhouses remaining in the Shiloh Hill area. In 1998, the Randolph County Historical Society took ownership of the College building. In 2004, the Shiloh College Foundation was founded to support restoration of the college building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 2005.
Pierce Park School in Boise, Idaho, is a 1+1⁄2-story, flat roof, brick and stucco building constructed in 1911 as a 4-room schoolhouse. The building has expanded with its growing community, but the additions have been considered compatible with the original structure. The school was named for Pierce Park, a trolley park developed by Walter E. Pierce in 1907, four miles from Boise and along the route of the Boise & Interurban Railway In 1900, at the turn of the century, Pierce Park was a destination park. It included cabins and a man made lake. The park, a popular weekend getaway for Boise residents, was accessible only by the Boise Trolley Loop. In 1911, Walter Pierce sold 1.5 acres of land in the Pierce Park area to Ada County for use as a school. The price was $1.00. The sale maintains the provision that if the land is ever not used for a public school, ownership will revert to the Pierce Family Trust. The park closed in 1928
In 1934, over Christmas Break, a fire in the boiler room destroyed Pierce Park School. The new four room building was commissioned as part of President Roosevelt’s WPA was built after fire, and opened in the fall of 1935. In 1947, Pierce Park School was annexed into the Boise school District. In 1950, a bond was passed to improve Franklin, Cole, and Pierce Park Schools. Pierce Park built a gym/cafeteria, a kitchen, office, and two classrooms. The original floor to ceiling windows in this addition can still be seen as part of the current Library. In the early fall of 1958, the road in front of the school was re-named Pierce Park Lane, and was scheduled to be paved in the Spring. Work would also begin on the new six classroom wing on the north side of the building. The $60,845 project was highly controversial due to its extravagant cost.
By the 1970’s the neighborhood around Pierce Park was in rapid growth. With six new subdivisions built in 5 years, expansion became necessary. A new gym/cafeteria, with a gym and kitchen were added to the south side of the property in 1975. The old gym was converted to a library and classroom, and the old kitchen became the office. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.In preparation for the 75th anniversary celebration of the school, the Pierce Park PTA arranged for the inside of the school to be freshly painted, a new playground blacktop was poured, and the parking lot was paved in 1985. It had been dirt and gravel for the previous 75 years. In 1986, Pierce Park celebrated the 75th anniversary of the school with a huge community party. The new flagpole was dedicated to alumni families. The Pierce Family gifted a portrait of Walter Pierce to the school. Community members were invited to tour the school. In 2020, Pierce Park opened in a brand new building, Pierce Park Elementary School, built in the back yard of the old Pierce Park.
The Isaacs Art Center at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy (HPA) is an art museum and retail gallery in Waimea on the Island of Hawaii. It is operated by and for the benefit of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy; all proceeds benefit the school’s scholarship fund. In addition to its retail holdings, the center houses an expansive permanent collection of Hawaiian, Pan-Pacific, and Asian art, including the world’s largest intact collection of works by Madge Tennent. The 5,580-square-foot building was constructed in 1915 as the Waimea Elementary School. At its completion, the structure was the first public school in the historic ranching community of Waimea and among the earliest schoolhouses built in the Hawaiian plantation style. Locally, its size reflects the gradual increase in population that Waimea experienced in the early 20th century; nationally, a civic trend toward standardized American education. The original architect and contractor responsible for the schoolhouse remain unknown. In 1916, it welcomed its first students, most of them the children of Parker Ranch employees.
Between 1942 and 1946, the Waimea Elementary School served as a makeshift field hospital for United States Marine Corps troops stationed in or around Waimea. At the war’s peak, the region was host to approximately 30,000 G.I.s operating out of Camp Tarawa; many would later contribute to major campaigns on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, two decisive installments in the Pacific theatre. It was restored between 2002 and 2004, with George Isaacs being the major donor. In 2003, the Historic Hawaii Foundation accorded a Historic Preservation Honor Award to the completed restoration; the museum opened in 2004, and the building itself was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The Isaacs Art Center’s installations intermix its own permanent art collection with loans from private collectors and works for sale. The art on display consists primarily of paintings by early and mid-twentieth century Hawaii artists.
The Mary Ray Memorial School, now the Raymond Community Center, is located on Raymond Sheddan Avenue in the small community of Raymond in Coweta County, Georgia. The school was founded in 1908 as a one-room schoolhouse and was used as a school until 1948. When it opened, it had around 30 students. In 1909, there were around 70 students, and a wing was added. In 1910, it had over 100 students, and a second wing was built. The school was closed in 1948, and in the early 1950s the building was given to the community for a community club. In the mid-1980s, it fell into disrepair.
In 2007, new trustees were appointed, who met outside the building in the “kudzu” and decided to save it. Volunteer workers began the restoration of the building in October 2007. It took many fundraisers to raise the finances for the buildings renovations. Many “Sunday Dinner’s”, “Chicken-Q’s,” and different activities were held to help make the community center what it is today, and the renovation work was completed in June, 2011. The Mary Ray Memorial School House is now a community center. Today, the building is used for many different events. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 23, 2013.
The First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse is a historic school located in Coconut Grove, Florida. The school originally resided at 2916 Grand Avenue in Miami. The structure was built in 1887 by Coconut Grove pioneer Charles Peacock. Peacock reportedly constructed the house using wood gathered from ships wrecked in nearby Key Biscayne. The building originally served as a community gathering place, with Sunday School as its main purpose. In 1889, the one-room schoolhouse became the very first public school for area children. The building’s owner, Charles Peacock, was paid rent in the amount of $12.00 for the first seven-month school year. Ten children from the Frow, Pent, and Peacock pioneer families, were its first attendees.
The first meetings of the Miami-Dade County School Board can be traced back to this period, with the First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse located in School District Number Three. The first teacher hired by the Miami-Dade County School Board to instruct pioneer children of Coconut Grove, Flora McFarlane, was contracted in November, 1889. The schoolhouse also retains historical significance since the first meetings of the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove were held on site. In February, 1891, Flora McFarlane and Coconut Grove pioneers Isabella Peacock, Euphemia Frow, Mary Munroe, and Louisa Newbold held began their work of organizing numerous social, civic, and educational projects.
In 1902, Charles Peacock sold the First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse for $400.00. The property remained in possession of the new owner until it was sold again in 1944. The building was then purchased by Ryder Systems, refurbished, and relocated to the Plymouth Congregational Church property in 1970. The schoolhouse remains on church property at 3429 Devon Road, Miami, Florida, 33133. On January 21, 1975, this simple, board-and-batten, one-room, Frame Vernacular building, constructed in 1887 as a Sunday school for Coconut Grove pioneers, was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Fork Branch school in Dover, Delaware, was built by the Lenape community in the late 19th century. It came under control of the Department of Education in the 1920s, when the school was remodelled through Pierre DuPont’s school building program. The site of the former Fork Branch School on Denneys Road was used for the Lenape and Nanticoke Indian students. The less than two-acre plot in Dover was once home to the Fork Branch School, one of two local Lenape—or Delaware Moor—schools, before integration. It ceased operating as a school in the 1960s when schools were desegregated, and then was used as a nurse training site. The school burned down in 1968. The site was then acquired by the Delaware State Highway Department. Also in 1968, custody of the land, which abuts a cemetery and sits opposite a historic church, was transferred to the State Police Department for $1.00 and used as a firing range. This use likely left lead ammunition in the soil.
The Fork Branch School site is visible behind a chainlink fence. It’s now an empty lot surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. But the walkway to the place where the one-room schoolhouse once stood is still visible, marked by two trees. The Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware is working with the EPA and DNREC to clean up the state-owned parcel with historical significance. The EPA was engaged to test the site through its federally-funded brownfield program. According to DNREC, the first phase of assessment, which has been completed, revealed possible hazardous substances. The Tribe hopes that any potential contamination can be remediated, and the Tribe can eventually obtain the property. The goals are to possibly create a community center there and let their families and children have access to the property in an intimate relationship—playing and rolling around on the ground and stuff like that. Directly across the road from the Fork Branch School site is an undeveloped half-acre plot, which is the only land owned by the Tribe, as well as the historically Lenape Little Union church, where Lenape Indian Tribe members once worshiped, and Fork Branch Cemetery, which are not owned by the tribe.
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