Education in Clark County
Compiled by the Clark County Historical Society
• 1785 - Ordinance by Congress for survey and sale of western lands provided that section 16 or 1/36th of every township should be received for sale for maintenance of public school within that township.
• 1787 - Northwest Territory Ordinance provided for education. "Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
• 1802 - First Ohio Constitution set aside one section of land in each township (consisting of 36 sections) for the support of the common school, provided that all school, academies and colleges founded upon or supported by revenues from the land grants should be open "for the reception of scholars, students and teachers of every grade without distinction or preference."
• 1805 - School erected near present Tecumseh High School
• 1806 - Nathaniel Pinkered, founder of Springfield educational system, opened a school in a log house on the northeast corner of Main and Market (now Fountain Avenue) streets. Prior to 1806, no attention was paid to education. "The rugged life of the pioneer found no great advantage to be derived from learning. They had 'books in the running brooks and sermons in stones.'"
• 1806 - First school in Mad River Township erected near Enon.
• c.1810 - Subscription school opened in New Carlisle.
• c.1810 - First school in Moorefield Township. First teacher - Mr. Redwood
• 1810 - First school in Pleasant Township. First teacher - Jesse Reese.
• 1816 - First schoolhouse in Madison Township, south of South Charleston. First teacher - Fairchild.
• 1819 - First school district - Green Township. All Green Township districts were independent until 1852.
• 1820 - School built near Lisbon.
• 1821 - Old Bethel School erected.
• January 22, 1821 - Act passed in Clark County to provide for the regulation and support of common schools; designated to make "free public schools."
• 1824 - First brick schoolhouse - Plattsburg.
• 1825 - Teacher examinations instituted.
• 1828-1830 - First female teachers hired in Green Township.
• 1830 - Tax support of public schools - Madison Township.
• March 1, 1834 - General Assembly passed an act to incorporate the Springfield High School. The school opened in 1835; first principal, Milo G. Williams (1835-1841). In the first 10 years it had become one of the most prominent academies in the State.
• 1834 - First school in New Carlisle
• c.1835 - First schoolhouse in South Vienna
• 1836-1840 - First systematic graduation and classification of pupils in Ohio - Cincinnati
• 1838 - Mount Pleasant; 1871 - moved and enlarged.
• 1841-1845 - Chandler Robbins - Principal of Springfield High School.
• 1845-1852 - Rev. Solomon Howard - Principal of Springfield High School.
• 1845 - Teachers' Institute established
• 1845 - Springfield High School became co-ed.
• 1846 - Quick School opened; became Centennial School in 1876.
• 1847 - State Teachers' Association established
• 1847 - The Akron Law provided for the establishment of an adequate number of primary schools, school of higher grade, and for the free adminssion of all white children. In 1848 the law was extended to incorporated towns and cities and in 1849 it was further embodied in a general law allowing any town of 200 inhabitants to organize and conduct graded schools.
• 1849 - Rev. Jonathan Edwards founded Springfield Female Seminary. It was sold to the city in 1871, later to become the public high school.
• 1850 - A definite course of study established in Ohio.
• 1852-1860 - Rev. John W. Weekly principal of Springfield High School.
• 1852-1855 - Rev. Thomas Harrison principal of New Carlisle Academy.
• 1854 - Addition to Springfield High School. Name changed to Female College and Springfield High School. Later renamed the Springfield Seminary.
• 1854 - Linden Hill Academy opens in New Carlisle.
• 1855 - First school board: Chandler Robbins, Joseph Brown & C. H. Williams.
• 1855 - Free, graded system officially established.
• 1855 - south Vienna divided into 2 districts; consolidated in 1866.
• 1856 - Medway School established
• 1858 - Keifer Detrick School opens; replaced in 1877 by Tecumseh.
• 1860 - Valley School opens
• 1860 - Rocky Point School opens in Mad River Township.
• 1860 - Contentious Board of Education elections: "free" High Schools/No Free High Schools.
• 1860-1861 - Rev. W. J. Ellsworth principal of Springfield High School.
• 1861-1869 - Rev. J. W. Herron principal of Springfield High School.
• 1873 - Clark County school statistics: 0 townships, 95 sub-districts and 103 schools.
• 1873 - Olive Branch built as an elementary school.
• 1873 - First superintendent of German Township schools.
• 1874 - Lawrenceville High School built in German Township. It's the first rural High School in Ohio created as a High School.
• 1874-1875 - New Central High School built.
• 1875 - School built on Pleasant Street to accommodate the needs of black children.
• 1878 - Union School established
• 1883 - Bethel Township - Olive Branch High School - First permanent central High School in the county and possibly any rural district in Ohio.
• 1884 - Tremont City School established
• 1884 - Office of Bethel Township superintendent created.
• 1885 - New LInden Hill Academy - New Carlisle
• 1886 - Western Normal University "pay" school
• 1887 - School segregation officially discontinued; de facto segregation remained.
• 1888 - First Elementary School - Enon
• 1892 - First effort toward consolidation in Clark County was made at Selma.
• 1896 - Springfield Public School began providing free textbooks.
• 1897 - J. R. Clark, Teacher and Superintendent of German Township, adopted a true High School course of study.
• 1899-1900 - Harmony Township High School - first graduation class, 1903, the last, 1952.
• 1900 - Board of Education of Springfield township, under the guidance of A. B. Graham, voted to spend $10 per school for library books.
• 1901 - New Moorefield School
• 1904 - First High School class graduation in Green Township at Pitchin.
• 1907-1908 - New Olive Branch High School built; destroyed by fire in 1913.
• 1911 - Springfield High School built; later to become Springfield South High School.
• 1912 - New High School - Enon
• 1912 - Ohio Constitution provided for public supervision of rural schools, officially began, 1914. county superintendence began centralization projects.
• 1916 - New High School - German Township
• 1917 - Smith-Hughes Law - "provide for the promotion of vocational education."
• 1918 Blue Stem school in Mad River Township closed.
• December 31, 1920 - illiteracy among the native-born whites in Clark County was reduced from .8 to .7, giving the county one of the lowest percentages of illiteracy among the large communities in Ohio.
• November 11, 1921 - Reid School dedicated
• 1921 - Springfield enrollment: 10,312 - public schools; 1,796 - parochial.
• 1921 - Schools: Springfield High School, Bushnell, Elmwood, Emerson, Fulton, Garfield, Gray, Jefferson, Henry L. Schaefer Junior High, Highlands, I. Ward Frey, Central Junior High (old high school), Lagonda, Lincoln, McKinley, Melrose, Northern (old Springfield Female Seminary), Northern Heights (old county infirmary), Snyder Park Junior High, Southern, Warder Park, Washington, Western.
• 1921 - Oak Grove School, Mad River Township, closed.
• 1922 - Catawba Elementary opens.
• 1929 - New Olive Branch School
• 1935 - Mad River Township High School consolidated with Enon to form Enon High School.
• 1935 - The school year reduced from ten months to nine months.
• 1938 - Last class Green Township High School, thereafter students transported to South Charleston High School.
• November, 1945 - electors voted nearly $4,000,000 to purchase new school sites, erect new buildings, and make additions to existing buildings. All of the elementary buildings were of the one-floor type to reduce cost and provide maximum safety.
• 1947 - Pike-German Local School District created.
• 1948 - Clark County School Board opened new offices
• 1948 - Merger of New Carlisle and Olive Branch School Boards.
• 1950 (1952?) - Tecumseh High School
• 1950 - Northeastern School District formed.
• 1950 - Elmwood Elementary, Fulton Elementary, Northwestern School
• 1951 - South Charleston, Selma and Pitchin consolidated into Southeastern School District.
• 1951 - Lagonda Elementary, Snowhill Elementary
• 1952 - New High School built for Northeastern School District.
• 1952 - New Moorefield High School, new Northeastern High School merger
• 1952 - Plattsburg consolidated into Northeastern Local Schools.
• 1953 - Kenwood Heights Elementary, Highlands Elementary, Schaefer Junior High and Hayward Junior High are enlarged.
• 1954 - George Rogers Clark Junior High and Bushnell, Jefferson, Grayhill, McKinley, Emerson and Lincoln Elementaries are enlarged.
• Greenon High School created when Green and Mad River Townships consolidated. Enon High School closed.
• 1959 - Oscar T. Hawke School with combined Elementary and Junior High
• 1960 - Springfield North High School opens.
• 1962 - Westlake and Park Layne schools open
• 1968-1977 - Bethel Township voters reject ten school levies
• 1970 - New Carlisle-Bethel schools open four weeks late because of financial troubles.
• 1977 - Athletics in New Carlisle-Bethel schools reinstated through private funding.
• 1977 - Kenton Ridge High School opens
• 1978 - Oak Grove Elementary closed
• 1980 - Springfield South High School rededication
• 1981 - New Carlisle Elementary closed
• 1984 - Catawba Elementary Closed
• 1989 - New Carlisle Bethel Local becomes Tecumseh Local Schools
• 1996 - Ohio Voucher plan
• 2007 - New Tecumseh High School