Aging Schools in 1917 - Perry Township

This article looks at the facilities changes made by the Perry Township Board of Education in 1917. One of those resulting school buildings remains today in Upper Arlington.

first, What is Perry Township?

All of today’s Upper Arlington was once located in Perry Township. It was named “Perry” in honor of Commodore Oliver H. Perry at the time it was organized as an independent township in 1820.

In 1917, Upper Arlington was still a young, developing community, stretching only from Fifth Avenue to Guilford Road, Riverside Drive to Andover Road. North of UA, children lived on farms and attended rural schools.

Next, Where were the Perry Township rural school buildings located?

This excerpt from the 1872 Perry Township map most clearly shows the location of four rural schools that existed within the boundaries of today’s Upper Arlington. All four were still functioning in 1917.

• Fairview School at today’s Tremont Road & Lane Avenue

• Stony Point School at today’s Fishinger Road & Riverside Drive

• Woody Bower School south of today’s Henderson Road

• Swamp College south of today’s McCoy Road (on the Ohio State Golf Course)

Note: Within Upper Arlington in 1917, about a dozen students in grades 1-3 attended school in the basement of King Thompson’s home. Students in the higher grades went to Grandview schools or North High School. A temporary school building would be constructed in 1918 to accommodate the growing number of families moving into UA.

So WHAT WERE THE ISSUES WITH THE RURAL SCHOOLS IN 1917?

In 1917, the Perry Township Board of Education faced issues of decaying school buildings, as told in their own words from the Records of the Board of Education of Perry Township School District in Franklin County, Ohio. Their ensuing decisions were made in the span of less than 9 months!

January 9, 1917: “the school building in sub-district No. 5 has been condemned [No. 5 at that time was the Stony Point school]…and whereas a bond issue for new buildings…has just been rejected. We are of the opinion that the conditions and circumstances point to consolidation as the only practical solution of the school question in Perry Township…”

“Therefore, it is resolved that the President appoint three men from each sub-district…as a committee to meet….to decide on the points of the location of said [consolidated] buildings, it being the purpose of the Board to divide the Township into two Districts….North and South.” The dividing line was today’s Bethel Road.

An interesting side note: The President of the Perry Township Board of Education at the time was George C. Galbraith. His family lived at and around 3240 Tremont Road for 114 years until George sold the land upon which today’s Kingsdale sits. George had attended eight grades at the rural Fairview School on corner of Tremont & Lane (Columbus Dispatch, Dec 2, 1951, p. 164)

Finally, what was built?

February 13, 1917: “Resolved…that it is necessary for the proper accommodation of the schools…to purchase sites for and erect, construct and furnish two elementary grade schools building…one to be located at or near what is know as Rebb’s [Reeb’s] Corners in the south…”

April 2, 1917: The Board records that the March 20th election for a bond issue of $60,000 was successful.

June 22, 1917: “a motion was made…that the Board purchases five acres of land at $400.00 per acre from Mr. Henry Rebb [Reeb] for the school site at Rebb’s [Reeb’s] Corners… Motion carried.” Henry Reeb lived just east of today’s Fishinger Road and Reed Road, with property straddling Fishinger Road (then called The Olentangy and Scioto Free Pike).

July 27, 1917: “The plans…for the new school building in the south end of the school district were presented and explained by the Architect, Mr. Sheets…”

August 30, 1917: “the general bid of H.C. McCall of $24470.00 was the lowest bid” and the Board carried a motion to award McCall the contract.

Thus South Perry Township School came into being, and by 1920, all the rural schools in the southern portion of the district were consolidated into this one building.

When this land was annexed into Upper Arlington in 1954, the building became Fishinger Elementary School. When that closed in 1981, the Wellington School purchased the property (after a failed levy to convert the school into a community center). This building remains today with its original exterior facade recognizable to passersby.

by Kristin Greenberg, Sept. 2024. Information sourced from Perry Township Board of Education meeting minutes summary present in Abstract of Title for 2590 Tremont Road.