Adamsville's First Schools

Interesting Description of Our First Institution of Learning
Gilbert, Ohio June 30, 1890

Editor Adamsville Register:

The first school I went to in Salem Township was in a cabin standing near the southeast corner of land now owned by Mr Cogall, then by Wm Starkey. I cannot give the exact dates, but will say about the winter of 1823-24, to a man by the name of Luther Colvin. Later at the same place I went to Rufus Richardson. I could get the date exactly by referring to the marriage records, as he was married shortly after his term expired to a Miss Giddons. Her father then living on what is now the Gore farm. This might have been about 1825-26, perhaps a little later. About that time or shortly after the neighbors joined and erected a hewed log house of sufficient size for a school house at the cross roads leading through from Zanesville to Coshocton and from Dresden to Cambridge, where is now the east side of Adamsville. Some furnished the logs ready on the ground, others shingles, lumber nails and so on until all the material was ready on the ground. Then all joined in raising and finishing up the house for school purposes. It was built according to custom in those days. Holes were bored in the wall, strong pins were put in and a board laid on those pins answered for a writing desk for the scholars; a board about five feet long and fourteen inches wide on long stilts was provided for the teacher's use and a three -legged stool about 18 inches high and a foot wide constituted his seat' soft poplar slabs with pins put in for legs formed benches for the scholars to sit on and our house was ready for school. This was about 1829 or '30. I will now give some of the teacher's who first taught in this house. The first I think was James Elliott. The next was Alpheus Richardson, the next I think was Eunice Abbott a lady. The next was George Werts and I think Wm Mears, a Baptist preacher taught one term in this house. According to the best I can gather in my mind and circumstances, the brick school house was built in about the year '40

Yours Respectfully,
Lewis Shurtz

Submitted by Doug Kreis

The School Lands

The first school in Salem Township was located in the north eastern portion of Salem Township in what came to be known as the School Lands area. This area of land was comprised of Sections 1, 2, 9, 10, the eastern half of Sections 3 and 8 and, the northern half of Sections 11 and 12 and the northeast quarter of Section 13. The area was laid out in 40 lots starting in the southeast corner and ascending then moving west descending and so on. The school was built on Lot #37. This early structure was replaced by a larger log structure in 1832 on a lot bordering the Baptist Cemetery in Adamsville.

Shively School stood near the eastern line of the township on Lot #2 in the School Lands region. It was sold to Daniel Bowden on 1855. Knisely's was located on Lot #20 in the same area. About 1855 these schools were combined to create the Burnt Mill School district. The school was built on Lot #20 and was named because of it's proximity to the old steam mill on Knisely's land that had exploded and burned a few months earlier.

Burnt Mill

Burnt Mill School House

Adamsville (Union) School

The log structure built in 1832 to replace the old school on Section #37 of the School Lands, was later replaced by a brick structure and then later by a two room frame building that served the community until 1875. This building was built on Shirer land and was behind what would later become the Shirer Funeral Home and later the residence of Ray Shirer.

1832 - 1875
The Old Grade School on Shirer's Lot

In 1875 a two room frame structure was erected on the southern part of Cone's addition on East Street to serve as the new school. It included the grade school and an addition was built to meet the additional needs. The Muskingum Normal school was started in space in this new wing in 1880 by Professor Edward Spencer. This school closed after only six months. in 1894, professor Spencer helped the community to establish a three year high school which also operated in this new wing of the school. The first to graduate was Ira Skinner in 1897. The following year sw bertha M. Elsea, John H, Garrett, Charles P. Snoots and Frank J. Williams receive their diplomas.

The High School in Adamsville has survived many setbacks in it's many years of service. Low enrollment in 1910 almost cost the school it's charter. It re-organized and a new "revised" charter was established but was anulled in 1912. The principal of the school, George Myers, enlisted the residents in 1913 to circulate a petition for a new charter and classes were resumed in 1915. In 1924 a new brick high school was built on an adjacent lot north of the grade school.

1924 - 1954
1st High School Building, East Street

In 1952 the old grade school was torn down and a new larger brick High school was built on the same land and the old brick high school was converted for use by the grade school. Many of the one room schools in Adams and Salem townships were closed and the students were bussed to Adamsville.

1954 - 1966
2nd High School Building, East Street

Again problems from the added students from these areas caused problems for the school. Over crowding threatened the school's charter again and six more classrooms were added on to the exisiting school in 1960 to compensate. The modernization of the schools and the ever increasing population caused more problems in 1965 when it was finally decided to combine the school systems of Dresden, Frazeysburg and Admasville into the Tri-Valley School System in 1967. These Adamsville buildings now serve the elementary classes and other special class facilities.

Milligan's School

Milligan's School district was named for Samual Milligan, who taught school in the south eastern part of Salem Township. There was an old schoolhouse which stood about a half mile from the one that still stands with the same name. The school district is comprised of sections Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one and Twenty Two, and the southern half of Sections Eighteen and Twenty-three and the southeastern quarter of section Thirteen, an area two and a half miles square.

Stoney Point School

Stoney Point school was located in the south eastern quarter of Section #17 and served the south eastern portion of Salem Township. It was active until 1934 when the one room school houses were all closed and the students bussed to Adamsville.

Teachers

After the winter of 1865-66 the Adamsville Schools have been taught by: George Wiles, Carrie Wiles, A. W. Hastings, J. H. Conlin, D. H. Smith, H. H. Garrett, Penelope Shrigley, James Moorehead, A. L. Pierce, J. J. M. Suitt, E. Spencer, Belle Filler, W. W. Carter, J. H. Atwell, C. W. Ross, Homer Snoots, Emma Moser, Rena A. Moser, Wm. Kreager, H. W. Slater, C. N. Darner, and James A. Brown.

One Room School Houses

The school houses of Stoney Point, Milligans and Burnt Mill were pretty much all built from the same design. There were three windows on each side to allow for plenty of daylight seeing that this was the most economical way to light them. There was one main entrance with a foyer containing coat hooks and shelves for storage. A pot bellied stove, the only means of heating the structure, was located in the wide aisle in the middle of the building. Desks could fit two students and they sat on either side of the middle aisle. The teachers desk sat in front and the upper half of the front wall was filled with blackboard. The library was comprised of a tall book case that stood in one of the corners at the front of the room. These schools would be comprised of students from eight different grades and the teacher would assign work to one group while attending another. I would imagine some of the early "Our Gang" movies were pretty accurate depictions of these historic edifices. All of these school houses were closed when the students began being bussed to Adamsville in 1934.