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About Our Cover
Locust Grove School
By Tina Rice
Our lovely cover schoolhouse is
the Locust Grove Number 12
School near Springfield, Ohio. It
was originally built in 1896 and served
area students in grades 1 through 8 until it
was abandoned in the 1920s. Measuring
30 feet by 40 feet, it was a typical rural
schoolhouse of its era.
The teacher sat at the front of the
classroom facing six rows of desks.
Typically, behind the teacher’s desk
was a slate blackboard with a 2-foot
high platform on which small
students stood when they wrote on the blackboard. A coat hook board runs across the north
wall, and kerosene lamp brackets are on the windowed walls. (Lamps were needed during
meetings and events that took place during evening hours.) Also located in the school
building are a pump organ and two pot-bellied stoves. 4-H founder A. B. Graham is one of
many former teachers at Locust Grove Number 12 School.
Currently Locust Grove School is located in the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton,
Ohio, and is one of twenty-five historical buildings in the 65-acre park. The park is open
from Tuesday through Sunday and charges a nominal admission fee.
After the school was closed, it stood abandoned on the property of Mr. and Mrs. E.
Miller and was used to store farming equipment. When an administrator from Carillon
Historical Park expressed an interest in the building, the owners donated it to the park. It
was disassembled and rebuilt next to Newcom Tavern.
While at Carillon Historical Park, students can live the life of an 1896 student by
attending Locust Grove Academy. While at the academy students will spend half a day
learning reading, writing, and arithmetic from McGuffey Readers and using traditional
slates. They also will use steel-tipped pens dipped in ink (to practice penmanship), play
nineteenth-century games, and do schoolhouse chores.
Dayton, Ohio, is a day’s drive for many United States residents, and I want to encourage
you to visit a living history museum if you can. Seeing what a typical school was like in
our past often helps students grasp the historical concepts we are trying to teach them. Take
a day to explore a living history park and learn a “lost art” before it disappears forever.
About the photographer: Kimberly has been in love with the art of photography since
she was a young girl. She decided to use the gifts God blessed her with after photographing
her sister's wedding two years ago. Today she focuses primarily on weddings with a good
sprinkle of children, families, and seniors to keep her balanced. Along with being a photographer, she is the mother of four little blessings ranging in age from 13 to 5, and she is wife
to Kevin. You can see more of Kimberly's photography at KimberlyNicholePhotography.com.
Did you know that you can submit a school for cover consideration? Send us several
dead-centered photos with natural surroundings. The front or front/side view is best. If we
select your photo, we will need a 9 x 11 photo, negative, or digital image (300 dpi). If your
photograph is used, we will pay you $50, feature your name as cover photographer, and
send you two copies of the magazine. Send a digital image of your photograph to
Publisher@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com. If you are unable to send a digital image,
mail your photograph and details about the school to Cover Photo Search, The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine, P.O. Box 8426, Gray, TN 37615. Be sure to include your name,
email address, and phone number.
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