Fayette Normal College of Business and Music Gorham Township, Fulton County, Ohio Established 1882  Fayette Normal College of Music and Business opened to students in 1882. The High School was later in this building.  GORHAM � FAYETTE SCHOOL By Dr. John VanValkenburg In the 1900's Fayette was predominately an agricultural center for rural shopping, machinery repair and a place to buy seed, feed and other farm needs. This rural flavor was part of Gorham-Fayette school. Five or six school buses would depart the school garage and repair shop every morning to bring in students from all over the township. For many at the far reaches of the township, this bus ride to school was over an hour long on the bus. During the years of bus transportation, the drivers learned whom they needed to wait for along the route, whom would be on time at their driveway and those who would be late. Eventually children would come streaming down a farm lane toward the bus with lunch pail in one hand and putting on a coat with the other. Gorham-Fayette became a school known for its academic excellence and special quality for students in the arts. The school was known for quality bands, excellent music groups and school glee clubs, as well as classes in art and literature. Many of Fayette's students received their beginning education in rural country, one room schools. These were schools who usually taught grades one through eight. We should be reminded that in a rural society, an eighth grade education was considered adequate to meet the needs of commerce, agriculture and family life of that day. Many of the boys and a few of the girls were very much a part of rural seasonal crop production. This work in planting and harvest season called upon young people to stay home from school and help with farm enterprise. Many of the families in the township were related, tracing their roots back to frontier settlements of families that came from the east, New York, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. As people cleared the land and discovered the rich farm land in the soil, invitations were made back east to their kin to come to the Fayette area and settle. In this way, the early settlers all knew each other and helped each other at haying, threshing and planting time. Farm families improved their livestock by sharing their siring from boar pigs, bull cattle and the value of building good horse team stock. Roads continued to improve through the township as farm horses were used to haul in the dirt to make a berm, logs to construct bridges and drainage ditches to carry away the water. All of these improvements encouraged the use of busses to bring students to a central location and better equipped and more modern schools. It was during the 1930's that U.S. 20 was constructed through the center of the township, much of the labor was provided by local farm horses and their farmer owners. Soon the township was connected both east and west, north and south by adequate roads that continued to make Gorham-Fayette school the hub of education in the area. February 10, 2002 Click to send an email to Dr. John VanValkenburg, [email protected] |
History of Trustees of Chesterfield Township Fayette History - Part I Fayettte History - Part II Photo of the aftermath of the 1880 fire in Fayette. Here are some Class photos: Click on the photo to see the full size image & list of names. Fayette 1908  Fountain Valley School, Gorham Township, 1936 Gorham - Fayette 1937, 2nd GradeGorham - Fayette 1937, Seniors  Gorham - Fayette 1938, 3rd Grade Gorham - Fayette 1939, 4th Grade Gorham - Fayette 1940, 5th Grade Fayette High School, Class of 1942 Fayette High School, Class of 1947THE DIRECTORY The Directory contains a list by graduating year, of the seniors for the years 1908 through 1936. You may add your own name, graduating year and contact info to the Directory. Unknown Photos Photos of people & places around Fayette that have not been identified. Please take a look and see if you recognize these photos. Visit 'Early Schools of Fulton County, Ohio' LYONS, Fulton County, Ohio History & Photos |