Old Stone Schoolhouse tells Concord Township’s history
Published by: The News Herald
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While its days as a school building may be long past, Concord Township’s Old Stone Schoolhouse still has something to teach visitors about the community’s history.
The stone-faced one-room schoolhouse sits at 7125 Ravenna Road, just south of the Interstate 90 bridge and near Chair Factory Falls. The building operates as a museum today and is filled with artifacts and informational displays dating back to the township’s earliest American settlers.
According to schoolhouse docent Dan Maxson, it was built in 1840 for $200 and is the “oldest stone-quarried building in Lake County.” It was one of the township’s nine one-room schoolhouses and operated as a school until 1923.
Stepping inside today, school artifacts and other elements of local history fill the one-room space. Maxson said that it includes a step stool from 1841 and historic examples of school desks from different eras. There are also examples of old tests, teacher rosters, yearbook pages from later Concord schools, books, a teacher bell, journals and school rules. One display case features old Buck Rogers books and a commencement brochure for the class of 1902.
Two posters also feature letters that students wrote describing their daily lives for future readers. One was written in 1889 by 12-year-old Wade Adams, the son of a Civil War veteran. The other was written in 1919 by 13-year-old Marian, who mentioned that she and her aunt would rent a room in Painesville the next year so she would not have to walk four miles each day to get to Harvey High School.
Visitors can also learn about some of the township’s former residents. The schoolhouse includes information about Elga Pomeroy, a former student and teacher who later lived in the schoolhouse. It also has other display items referencing Marian Leuty, who served in the Women’s Army Corps.
The schoolhouse also features displays highlighting other parts of township history.
“We’ve started to have people who are former township residents, or as they’ve aged out, maybe their children do not want Concord Township artifacts from 80 years ago or whatever, and they’re looking for a home,” Maxson said. “And we’ve been able to acquire some great things.”
Items include porcelain caps from the railroad that ran along the current Lake Metroparks Greenway Corridor, a replica of the Concord Airpark, a travel trunk from an early surveying party and artifacts from digs at Chair Factory Falls…
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