Thank you Middleburg Heights for being such a wonderful audience. It was a true pleasure, and we look forward to visiting again!
:)ABCS
Rediscovering Ohio |
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On Tuesday June 5, we had the privilege to speak to the Middleburg Heights Historical Society. Here is the video from our presentation. I apologize that the video took so long (I'm a rookie when it comes to film editing!) and that it appears in seven parts (youtube sets length and file size limits). Please enjoy!! Thank you Middleburg Heights for being such a wonderful audience. It was a true pleasure, and we look forward to visiting again! :)ABCS Click on image to view larger
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I just wanted to take a moment to cover a landmark that I have already touched upon- the Old District 10 Schoolhouse, aka "The Little Red Schoolhouse". This cute little schoolhouse has long since been forgotten by time, but not forgotten by the city in which it resides. This century old building has seen a lot of history, and has worn many hats over the years. It served as a school, the first mayor and town council of Middleburgh Township (now Middleburg Heights) were elected within its walls, it served as a city hall, a speak-easy and a private residence. The Old District 10 Schoolhouse is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 73001427) and on the Ohio historical marker program (marker #6-18). Now, the Little Red Schoolhouse is in serious disrepair, watching the world pass it by. It is terribly sad. I have contacted the Middleburg Heights Historical Society in order to see what, if any efforts were being made to raise awareness of the state of the building, and how I could help. I am still waiting to find out what, if anything we all can do to help save the Schoolhouse. The historical society is interested in saving it, but it is a monumental task. I am in the process of finding out what we can do, so I will keep you informed. In the gallery below, I have posted some photos that we took that shows the extent of the damage to the Little Red Schoolhouse. I have also included some photos of it's sister schoolhouse in Berea, the District 7 Schoolhouse, which is in much better condition, and is still in use today, serving as a location for art and photography classes.
Again friends, I will keep you updated as to anything I find out regarding the saving of the Little Red Schoolhouse. In the mean time, I hope that you will fall in love with this quaint little building, just as Mark and I both have. :) ABCS This weekend, we got out and explored some new (to us) places. It was rather depressing, in that our weekend had the unintentional theme of "forgotten history". We saw so many forgotten cemeteries, forgotten buildings and forgotten landmarks. It was sad. We started our day on an unexpected and very positive note. We had to drive into Medina to go to the dreaded BMV (eek!). While we were there, we decided to also drive by a house that we saw listed for sale online to see if it was something worth trying to get in to see in person. After a wrong turn, we found a happy surprise... a beautiful cemetery just on the outskirts of downtown Medina! We were so captivated by this Spring Grove's beauty. It reminded us so much of Lake View Cemetery on Cleveland's east side... fabulous monuments (including a Civil War monument), beautiful park-like setting and beautiful flowering trees. It was so peaceful and serene. We were also impressed by how well-kept it was... not forgotten at all! Since it was still early, and quite chilly, we did not do much walking around, but we did drive around the cemetery and captured some great shots from the car. We cannot wait to go back. After stumbling on Spring Grove, we decided to do breakfast on the historic Medina Square. We ran into an old friend, who recommend a great little cafe on the square where we dined on some delicious breakfast food. After our meal, we had some picture-taking fun on the Square. Even though Medina Square is not on the state's register of historic places, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Not only is the Square on the Register, but the century+ old Medina County Courthouse is as well. We will be venturing back to the Square, and will probably blog more in depth about the Square at a later time, but we just couldn't wait to share some of the great photos we took, with all of the beautiful spring blooms!
After our fun in Medina, we then headed to Brunswick, where we stopped at another cemetery that we have often driven past, right in the center of town. It is apparent that this cemetery had been forgotten by time. Brunswick, growing from small rural township, to bustling and ever-growing suburb has grown all around this little piece of land, slowly creeping in on it's territory. In the past year or so, there has been a bit of a rebirthing project that has started. There is a new gazebo that is a work in progress, and we only hope that this is the start of some very much needed TLC to this lovely little cemetery. It is worth mentioning that we were very surprised at the age of some of the grave markers in this cemetery. Although the sign at the entrance said that the cemetery was founded in the 1830's, there were a number of markers that pre-date that period by 10 or so years. The earliest marker that we saw was dated 1820. That makes this cemetery one of the oldest that we have seen in the area-- quite old for the Western Reserve! After the cemetery in Brunswick, we decided to check off one of the Ohio Historical markers on our list... #4-52 Heritage Farm. This location absolutely broke our hearts! This location has been shut down indefinitely due to safety issues with the farm house on the property. The house has fallen into disrepair. I believe that there is a major structural issue with the home that will be extremely expensive to be repaired, not to mention the fact that there are a number of cosmetic issues, including an entire house covered with peeling paint! It's a true shame, as this property is simply wonderful... it is a perfect example of a typical Western Reserve farmstead... the barn, the corn crib, the outhouse! Such a great little property. So sad that it is in such disrepair. It's tragic properties like this that make me wish that I was a billionaire and could sponsor a major renovation project. The Brunswick Historical Society has updated their website with some of the details pertaining to the state of Heritage Farm. If you would like to help Brunswick save Heritage Farm, I urge you to visit their website. After visiting Heritage Farm, we decided to head back into Berea/Middleburg Hts. to catch some of the markers that we had missed on our first visit. We were heading to the Old District 10 Schoolhouse in Middleburg, when we made a happy mistake. A wrong turn took us to the Berea Union Depot- Marker #43-18. What a great old building! It is so unusual... one of those rare treasures that has some how survived the test of time. After the Depot closed as functioning train depot, it sat unused until it was turned into a restaurant in the 1980s. The restaurant has now closed, and the building sits, sadly forgotten. I would love to see something great happen here. A building as great as this deserves special care and attention! After the depot, we started to head over to the old schoolhouse. En route, we were distracted by a teeny-tiny cemetery, so we stopped. The cemetery (at Eastland and Sheldon Rds. in Middleburg Hts.) belongs to the St. Paul Lutheran church in Berea, and it is slowly being gobbled up by road projects and the railroad. There were a handful of recent interments, but for the most part, it was mainly older graves. The cemetery is in poor shape. It looks like there may have been some vandalism at some point, as well as just general effects of time and of being so near polluting industry, etc, wearing on the surfaces of the grave markers. It made us sad to see so many head stones in disrepair, but also to see that the cemetery is slowly being eaten up, little by little by newly widened road. We FINALLY made it to the Old District 10 Schoolhouse (AKA "Little Red Schoolhouse"), Marker #6-18. I think it is safe to say that this is the most tragic of our destinations for the day. This poor little schoolhouse looks so tired. It sits, seemingly forgotten, except by the vandals, watching the world pass it by. The city and the Middleburg Heights Historical Society wants to save the schoolhouse, but do not have the funds to do so. Again, here is another project that if I were a billionaire.........but alas, I am not. I have contacted MHHS to see how we can help save The Little Red Schoolhouse. I will keep you updated on my findings. We left the schoolhouse and headed into Parma Heights to photograph Marker #49-18, First Rural Brick Road in the US. Located at the corner of Pearl and Old York Rd in the front yard of the Marathon Station, it commemorates the starting point of the first brick rural road. We thought that it was really neat that such a place has been commemorated, but then we thought, "how many people drive past this sign everyday and have no idea that it even exists!" Well, friends, you now know it exists! If you ever find your way into Parma Hts, stop and enjoy a small glimpse into our past! While in Parma Hts., we decided to make a stop at Pearl Rd. Elementary, a beautiful old school (built in 1921) that will be closing after school lets out this year as part of the Parma City School District's consolidation program. Both of us were students in the PCSD, and are saddened to hear that so many of the elementary schools will be closing at the end of this year. In 2010, Parma bulldozed its first high school, which had been serving as its board of education building. It was such a great old building, and we are sad that we never got to document it in photos. We want to be sure that that does not happen to us again, so just in case , we documented Pearl Rd. Elementary (one can never have too many old building photos!!). Plus, one of my dearest friends is an alumna of Pearl Rd, so I was thinking of you A. E. H.! We also decided to make a stop at another old cemetery, Parma Heights Cemetery, which is still in use. It's a little one, but is in rather good shape. It's quite an interesting cemetery-- an almost perfect blend of old and new. There is also a marker that denotes the original location of the first Parma Schoolhouse, which was a pleasant little surprise :) It was the day of forgotten schoolhouses, I guess! It was great to take our little impromptu trip into Parma Heights. How we miss it! (We were married in Parma Heights, and I went to school in Parma Heights...) We then continued north on Pearl and headed into PARMA! Our old stomping grounds!! Mark grew up on the south end of Parma, and I on the north end of Parma. We returned to my old neighborhood to photograph a historical marker that was erected long after my family moved out of Parma. Marker #91-18, Parma's Birthplace, located at the corner of Pearl and Ridge (in front of the new Rite Aid). I remember the very cool building that used to occupy the spot prior to the new Rite Aid. It was built some time in the 1920s (if I'm not mistaken) and served as a drug store for a long period of time, and I remember it when it served as a dental office. It was torn down sometime after 2001 (after I had moved away) and has been replaced with a giant "cookie cutter" Rite Aid building. Not so cool. I would have to say, and not just because I grew up in this part of Parma, that this is (read: was) the most interesting part of Parma. One can still see some of the old store fronts that once existed here. We documented our favorite, which now stands empty. Slowly, one by one, the old store fronts and buildings are disappearing, left to exist only in one's memory. We have more to share from our exploits today, but I will save that for tomorrows blog. I have already managed to write a novel here! Don't forget to check out the photos! Thanks friend, :) ABCS |
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