8/12/2019 Gahanna One-Room Schoolhouse

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By Bethany Bella The latest addition to the Ga-hanna-Jefferson School Districtisnt an elementary, middle, or highschool building its a one-roomschoolhouse.

Located between the LincolnHigh School Stadium and Lin-coln Elementary, near the HavensCorner and Hamilton Road inter-section, the Gahanna-Jefferson #2Schoolhouse has been a locally-funded, ongoing project for the past20 months.

Tom Gregory, WGLH-TV advi-sor and Speech teacher at GahannaLincoln High School, has always

been a Gahanna-education enthu-siast. After stumbling upon theschoolhouse in its original location,across the street from the currentGahanna YMCA, Gregory decided

that the building and its historywere worth preserving. He pre-vented the city from demolishingthe dilapidated brick facility, nowused as a run-down storage garage,and organized a group of othercommunity members to restore theschoolhouse to its original glory.

After collecting tens of thou-sands of dollars in donations,Gregory and his team of educa-

tional cohorts managed to fund therestoration of the Gahanna Jeffer-son #2 Schoolhouse.

Salvaging the bricks and therooftop slate from the originalstructure werent the only tasks onGregorys seemingly-endless agen-da. This longtime Gahanna residentenvisioned the schoolhouse as aliving museum for students, resi-

dents, and any otherGahanna denizenswho have an interestin local history.

The whole ideaof the schoolhouse

project was not justto restore it so it satthere, but to reallymake it a hands-onexperience for kids,

because we wantkids to appreciatetheir local history,Gregory said.

After many months of toiling,tinkering, and tirelessly coordinat-ing logistics, the Gahanna Jef-ferson #2 Schoolhouse is fullyfurnished, with several educationaltours already under its belt. Items

of display include phonographs,McGuffey readers, slates, vintageOhio and United States maps, andeven a wood-burning furnace,though the furnace is reserved asa decoration for obvious health-safety precautions.

The schoolhouse committee, agroup of educational activists inthe community, is primarily sched-uling the tours for the third graders

in the Gahanna Jefferson SchoolDistrict. The curriculum of theschoolhouse visitation coincideswith the third graders learning

basic mathematical computations,as well as cursive writing.

A group of Gahanna senior citi-zens even participated in the Ga-hanna Schoolhouse tour program,traveling back in time to childhood

memories of relatives who at-tended school in similar one-roomfacilities.

The Gahanna Jefferson #2Schoolhouse is a unique treasuretrove of antiques that proudlydisplays remnants of Gahannaseducational history, all the way

back to the mid-1800s.The revolutionary vision behind

this living museum is one that isfundamental to Gregory and hiscomrades, if not vital to the com-munity, as well.

So often you learn about his-tory, and you learn about it in text-

books and pictures, and we wantkids to see that history is all aroundthem, Gregory added. Hopefully,

too, it makes them appreciate theirhistory and understand the impor-tance of preserving history. Withall the changes, with technology,changes are happening so quickly.Its so easy to get caught up in thethings of the future that if we arentcareful, well lose our history.