History of Miltonsburg School
MILTONSBURG
SCHOOL in Malaga Township, Monroe
County, Ohio
Article written by Clyde Decker and published in The Spirit of Democracy,
Woodsfield, Ohio, December 16, 1980
Miltonsburg, in Malaga Township, was laid out in 1836 by
David Pierson of Woodsfield and named after his son - Milton. The Village is
located in the southwest one-fourth of the northwest quarter of Malaga
Township’s section no. 10 and is in township no. 6 of range no. 6. Malaga
Township was organized December 15, 1820, and the first school within it’s
boundaries was taught in 1818, by David H. Craig and with twenty-two pupils.
The location of the school was on land of David (1783-Feb 17, 1875) and
Margaret (Griffen) Mann (1780-Dec 13, 1854) and near the line between their
quarter section and that of Peter (Dec. 31, 1777-Jan. 8, 1865) and Elizabeth
(Barnhard) Mann (1794-Dec. 31, 1871). David and Margaret settled the northwest
quarter of section no. 6 in 1816. Peter and Elizabeth made the first payment of
two dollars per acre on the northeast quarter of section no. 12 on Nov. 8,
1819, and received their government land patent dated Mar. 26, 1820. The
“Malaga Development Company” and the Ackermans now own the west one-half of the
northwest quarter of section no. 6. It was on this land that this first school
was taught.
The Miltonsburg two-room school building (erected ca. 1893) is on T. R. no.
1001 (Campfire Road) and near it’s junction with S. R. no. 145 in Miltonsburg.
The Campfire one-room school was also located on T. R. no. 1001, in the
southwest one-fourth of the southwest quarter of Malaga Township’s section no.
4. That school closed in the spring of 1930 with Elizabeth (Moore) Thomas, of
Jerusalem, as the last to teach there. The Campfire School site is now under
the waters of Monroe Lake.
Until 1921, pupils in grades one to four occupied one room
of the Miltonsburg school building and the other was used by those in grades
five to eight. From then until the end of the 1928-29 term, one room was used
for a three-year high school and the other for the first eight grades.
Beginning in the fall of 1929, the high school students were taken by bus to
Woodsfield. Dedication exercises for the present Woodsfield High School
building were held July 26, 1917. Prior to that, Woodsfield high school
students attended classes in the upper story of the three-storied brick school
house, on North Paul Street, erected in 1896.
After 1929, the eight grades at Miltonsburg school used the
two rooms until 1942-when the enrollments lessened and just one room was used
from then until the school was closed in the spring of 1957. The pupils now
attend school at the Woodsfield Elementary building (erected in 1953) and the
Woodsfield High School building. The Miltonsburg school building is now owned
by Mrs. Lou Stillion. Some teachers who taught at the school-Edward Holland,
Paul Wiley, Thomas Latta, Kathryn Riemenschneider, Laura Riesbeck, Leo
Reischman, Harlan Fogle, Bethel Scarborough, Germaine Haren, Laura Pfalzgraf, Violet
Scarborough, Eleanor Christman, Herman Rubel, Mabel Harper, Guy Brown, John
Harper, Arthur Willison, Hal Tanner, Edgar Shreve, Ophelia Mason, Mack
Dougherty, Amos Copeland, Kathryn Horton, Helma Christman, Marie Straight,
Dorothy Pennell, Harold Christman and Agnes Norris.
Helma (Stephen) Christman was the last to teach at
Miltonsburg. Mr. Harold P. Christman and Helma compiled this list of teachers.
This article was provided by Lena Kahrig Pettit, January 21, 2003 --
e-mail: Lena
Pettit