Built in 1915 by the Pioch Company. This school sat on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Moffat Road. It was the much smaller predeccessor to Central Elementary School which was built on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and King Road (opened in 1929). According to From Footpaths to Expressways (Vol. 8) by local author Gayleen Gindy, the schools first teacher was Irion Jacobs.
After the new school at King and Central opened in 1929, the old schoolhouse was sold to Florence Crockett. In 1946 it was sold to Ralph C. VanGlahn who was Justice of the Peace in Sylvania Township and used the old schoolhouse as his courthouse. At the same address was the home below, which it’s assumed is where the VanGlahn family lived.
County Judge Ira Bame briefly used the “courthouse” after the passing of Ralph Van Glahn in 1957.
In 1960 plans were made to extend US 23 from Monroe Street in Sylvania to West Central Avenue. This project resulted in many structures being relocated or demolished to make way for the Central Avenue interchange. The old schoolhouse was one of the buildings that was relocated. It was moved across Central Avenue to Mortemore Drive (created during US 23 construction) and became Ray’s Barber Shop.
The former schoolhouse was eventually surrounded by car dealership parking lots and swallowed by them in 2012.
Records suggest the land was purchased by the Taylor family in 2012 and the former schoolhouse “razed.”
