Darke County Educational History, Inc.

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Darke County Educational History, Inc.

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We are a Not-For-Profit organization set up to preserve the history of America's early educational system of "one room" schools and student photos.

06/29/2026

I think I posted this information before, but hopefully you will still find this information interesting. It is information about what happened to the 210 old, one room country schools which once dotted the Darke County countryside. Us older people remember years ago we use to see these schools every 3 miles or so. Since then 121 have been demolished, 63 were converted to residences, and the remaining 26 are either empty and falling apart or are used as farm storage. One of those 26 in really good condition and in use is the former Knick School on Bradford-Children's Home Road, east of Rt.121, owned by the SW Ohio C**n Hunters Association.

I recall the last 12 Greenville Township schools were closed in 1956. The students from those schools were consolidated at the new and bigger Greenville Township School Building which was later re-named Woodland Heights.

Attached is a schedule of what happened to these historic buildings by township.

Bob Sharp, Secretary-Treasurer, Darke County Educational History, Inc.

06/28/2026

Update on the floor: " the hole in the floor may soon be no more"! The floor crew headed by Brad Dill (GHS Class of 1982). Brad donated the floor joists. They then used all the old floorboards and the old floorboards we got from the Indiana restored schoolhouse. See their FaceBook Page at Ward Township District #5, Randolph County. Indiana, Inc.. Now we are awaiting an order for new floorboards from Ansonia Lumber to finish installation. Later this year after installing Lew's "resurrected" windows, we will sand and stain the floor, etc. I say "resurrected" because he made many of these window sections from the surviving vandalized window parts plus fabricating many needed window parts and panes before installing the glass.

Lew Crowell has completed the upper window sections and is working on the lower windows sections. Those completed look like the actual 1890 windows. Lew saved us a lot of money which is now making this project more doable. He is also working on the replacing several window sills. Oh, and then comes connecting the window sections to window weights. Well, Lew won't be bored this year!

Has anyone driven by our schoolhouse at the intersection of Hillgrove-Woodington and Warvel Roads?

Bob Sharp, Secretary-Treasurer, Darke County Educational History, Inc.

01/19/2026

I wish I could say that we are "wallowing" in a pile of grant money and a fat bank account, but we are not in that financial shape at all! Yes, we just received a $300 grant from the Ketrow Foundation for the purchase this Spring of enough fast drying cement to smooth out half of our walls. That was are only successful grant request in 2025! It is almost like the other grantors thought it would be a waste of money to "resurrect" an old schoolhouse. After all, when we finally received the deed from the attorney's office last January, 3 sides of the schoolhouse was invisible from the road due to the trees and bushes. The 4th side of the schoolhouse was covered with vines! Hopefully, you have driven by our schoolhouse and have seen our progress. By the end of this year it will be a "gem in the countryside"!

Our big problem now is restoring the floor which is beyond a "volunteer project". Basically, we need financial help. We need funding to complete this project. We need donations from individuals and businesses to partially cover our financial needs.

The good news is that NOW, beginning in the 2026 Tax Year, a reinstated IRS deduction allows "non-itemizers" to deduct cash donations to charitable non-profit, 501c(3) organizations like us, totaling up to $1,000 for single filers or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly. So, please think of including us on your donation list.

There are many ways of helping us finance this project:

1. Mail a check payable to Darke County Educational History, Inc. at our address at 1314 Northview Drive, Greenville, Ohio 45331.
2. Donating via PayPal link as shown on our FaceBook Group Page using your credit card or debit card.
3. Drop off a check payable to us at our bank, Greenville Federal which is located at 690 Wagner Ave., Greenville, Ohio 45331. It is located at the corner of Wagner Ave. and Russ Road. The Bank staff knows our account number and will then deposit it to our account accordingly.
4. If you are a Kroger Store customer then please consider enrolling in the Kroger Community Rewards Program at www.krogercommunityrewards.com. See attached information about this program. It is a nice way to have Krogers “contribute” to our project. I have checked my personal account and it seems that usually about $5 of my family’s quarterly purchases is designated to our project via this Rewards Program!
Bob Sharp, Secretary-Treasurer
Darke County Educational History, Inc.

01/17/2026

This week we submitted a Preliminary Questionnaire to the State Historic Preservation Office for requesting our schoolhouse be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. If listed our chances of receiving grants funds will be enhanced. Last week we were awarded a $300 grant request by the Ketrow Foundation for materials to apply to the walls.
Attached is a file of photos we submitted with the Preliminary Questionnaire.

01/07/2026

Just learned that Steve Baker of WHIO Channel 7 NEWS passed away last week. Attached is a news video of Steve covering our initial restoration of our schoolhouse in November'2011. Yes, that was 13 years before it was finally donated to us! At that time we introduced ourselves to the owners and spoke to them about the necessity of preserving the building. To show them our resolve, we boarded up the open windows and cleared the bushes around 3 sides of the building. Due to that action and concern, the property was deeded to us in December'2024.

Address

1314 Northview Drive
Greenville, OH
45331

Website

https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=TL52U6CFKSYQS

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