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by the Ohio School
Facilities Commission recommended replacing the four aging elementary schools, all of which had previously served as centralized schools, rather than spend millions of dollars to bring each one up to code. Voters approved the bond issue to build the new schools in the early 2000s. Mantua Center School was sold to the Mantua Township Trustees for $ 147,500. Since purchasing the building, the 1964 addition has been used for various community events and meetings while the Mantua Township trustees use some of the original 1914 building for offices.
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transitioned from multiple school houses to central buildings. Between 1913 and 1920, 21 new centralized schools were built in the county, though only five of those schools are still standing and none are used for classes. Four of those buildings, including the Mantua Center School, have been re-purposed, one is abandoned, while the remaining buildings have since been demolished. The building was nominated under the
Architecture area of Criterion C as an example of an early 20th century Neoclassical educational facility.
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The K–4 setup continued until 2004 when two new consolidated elementary schools, Crestwood
Primary for grades K–2 and Crestwood Intermediate for grades 3–5, were completed in Mantua Township just north of the high school and middle school campus. An evaluation of the district's buildings in the 1990s
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Following the conclusion of the 2003–04 school year in June, the building was closed and sold to the Mantua
Township Trustees. It, along with three other elementary schools in the district, was replaced by two new consolidated elementary schools, one for grades K–2 and the other for grades 3–5. Since
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School
District was merged with the township district to form the Mantua Local School District. Under the consolidated district, high school students (grades 8–12) attended the Mantua Village School while elementary students (grades 1–7) attended Mantua Center School. Two additional classrooms were
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During the early days of public education in Ohio, schools were divided into several small districts centered on a one-room schoolhouse. In the late 19th century, a movement started to centralize these schools into a single building with students divided into grade levels. The first school district
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Cahill's choice for the design of Mantua Center School may have been influenced by the original facade of the Old Main building at Hiram
College, which had been remodeled by the 1880s and has since been demolished. The classical designs of the nearby buildings that now constitute the Mantua Center
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joined the district in 1952 to form the Mantua–Shalersville Local School
District. Continued enrollment growth in the 1950s resulted in construction of a new high school in Mantua Village in 1956, at which point the district was renamed for the local phone exchange, Crestwood. A few years later, a
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The new school building opened in
October 1914 and students simply gathered their belongings in the previous buildings and carried them to the new school across the street one block north. The school became a social center for the community similar to other centralized schools. Initially it housed
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under
Criteria A and C. The building is significant in the area of Community Planning and Development in Criterion A as it is one of the early, and few remaining, examples in Portage County of a centralized rural school, from an era when most of the rural schools districts in the area and state
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urging the state to develop building codes that would prohibit construction of school buildings using wood since wood was far more prone to damage from floods and fire. Cahill was a proponent of masonry construction and cement walls and had observed the extensive damage caused to buildings as a
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at the time, and the general contractor was Loomis, Seymour, and
Company. The original building cost $ 32,500 ($ 989,000 in 2023 dollars) and had 12,000 square feet (1,100 m) of space on three levels with seven classrooms on the top two floors and small gymnasium and cafeteria areas on the
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was Ravenna City in 1859 followed by Kent nine years later. Many of the more rural township schools, however, did not start centralizing schools until the early 20th century. Mantua Township centralized schools in 1903, housing students in buildings in and around what is now the
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were two of the primary reasons. The construction of the building also occurred during a period of time where other districts were opening new centralized buildings. Between 1913 and 1920, 21 new centralized schools were built in Portage County.
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The construction of the Mantua Center School was driven mainly by township residents' desire for modern and safe educational facilities, to replace the wooden frame buildings that had previously been serving as schools. The deadly
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new junior high school was built near the high school and Mantua Center School was used as an elementary school for grades K–4. An addition was built in 1964 that included a multi-purpose gymnasium and classrooms.
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through four as one of four elementary schools in the Crestwood Local School District. Previously, the building had served first as a grades 1–12 school for students in Mantua Township, known as the
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school districts. It continued as a 1–7 building until the late 1950s when Crestwood Middle School opened. An addition with a multi-purpose gymnasium and stage was completed in 1964.
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all grades (1–12) with high school classes occupying three classrooms and the remaining grades in four rooms. The school housed students in all grades until 1948, when the
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then, the newer portion of the building has functioned as a community center while the original building has limited use for office space by the township government.
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How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda
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lowest levels. The building also contained indoor restrooms, located in the basement, which were unusual for rural buildings in the early 20th century.
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added to the Mantua Center School by converting space in an adjacent building on the property. This arrangement continued even after
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in the mid-20th century. The addition includes a multi-purpose gymnasium, kitchen, restrooms and storage.
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on September 4, 2013. The building was listed as an example of early 20th century educational and
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District may have also been influences on his design, which includes elements of
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422:"Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 9/03/13 through 9/06/13"
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National Register of Historic Places listings in Portage County, Ohio
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School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
530:"Mantua Center School Added to National Register of Historic Places"
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in 1911 and had previously designed the school for neighboring
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National Register of Historic Places in Portage County, Ohio
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The Mantua Center School was nominated for inclusion on the
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is a historic building located in the Mantua Center area of
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Until 2004, the building was in use as a school, known as
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and killed 172 students, and prevention of the spread of
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The original 1914 Mantua Center School is an example of
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National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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in 1908, which occurred nearby in what is now part of
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626:Buildings and structures in Portage County, Ohio
338:Architect Peter Cahill was a graduate of nearby
322:Front view of the original building in late 2013
499:Ohio Department of Education Report Card Files
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35:U.S. National Register of Historic Places
348:The Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder
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636:Neoclassical architecture in Ohio
495:"Report Card for Crestwood Local"
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239:Mantua Center Elementary School
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503:Ohio Department of Education
16:United States historic place
651:1914 establishments in Ohio
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369:Greek Revival architecture
328:Neoclassical architecture
232:Neoclassical architecture
197:NRHP reference
126:11741 Mantua Center Rd.,
79:Location in the state of
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377:educational architecture
187:Architectural style
505:. 2012. Archived from
463:"Mantua Center School"
357:Collinwood school fire
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281:Collinwood school fire
273:Mantua Center District
247:Mantua Township School
426:National Park Service
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303:Shalersville Township
155:41.31139°N 81.24500°W
52:Front in October 2013
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220:Mantua Center School
27:Mantua Center School
353:Great Flood of 1913
241:. It housed grades
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134:Coordinates
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513:October 1,
476:October 1,
408:References
146:81°14′42″W
143:41°18′41″N
432:April 23,
332:Cleveland
285:Cleveland
179:Architect
580:(1992).
560:(1997).
396:See also
365:Georgian
204:13000682
123:Location
289:cholera
261:History
587:(PDF)
567:(PDF)
466:(PDF)
171:Built
606:2024
543:2014
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478:2013
434:2015
367:and
174:1914
81:Ohio
199:No.
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
