A few weeks ago, I was invited to return to my old school and speak on the occasion of an Alumni Hall of Fame Induction. A few days ago, I was talking to my nearly ninety year old uncle about his days at Willoughby Union High School. I drive by the old Grand River School often and I remember the former Harvey High School being demolished last year as the result of a new buildings initiative. Each Tuesday afternoon I pass the Fairport Harbor City Hall and Police Department, which at one time was the 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 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 life, noise, and vivacity as the buildings of their youth.
An inquiry from a visitor at my Alumni 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 that my school Euclid Central 1913-1967 was missing from this archive. A quick contact and photo later and 'The Lions Den' was part of local lore. 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 in the site.
Whether you attended P.S. 10,Wells or Berwick School in Euclid, Old Center Street High School and /or Mentor High School on Mentor Avenue, or P.S. 14 as I did, 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
As of today (01-09-2022) www.oldohioschools.com does not seem to be a viable website. The response is a foreign phone number search. Even finding the origin from a Master's degree candidate on UrbanOhio.com in 2007 produced the same result.
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