The former Greeneview South school sits on the edge of Bowersville. Once a prosperous town where local farmers went to retire, now only a small gas station and a post office remain open.
The school hasn’t fared much better since shutting down in the early 2000s.
The building was originally the Jefferson Township Centralized School, and later became an elementary school as part of the Greeneview School District.
Recently the three-story, yellow brick building has been the target of vandals and bored kids. Broken windows and trash litter the dark hallways of the former school.
“As you can see, it’s pretty well torn up on the inside, and deterioration of the building from no heat being in here. It’s bad,” Richard Zehring said, walking through the rubble.
The first school year was 1916. There were 238 grade school students, 37 high school students, nine teachers, and eight horse drawn routes with drivers to provide the transportation.
Zehring is a township trustee. He and his wife are the current owners of the former school.
“We own the land around it and it was just deteriorating, so we thought we would buy it and add it back to our farm,” Zehring said. “We use the bus barn for storage out back, but as far as the building, it’s in too bad of shape to use it for anything.”
While in the process of working with the county to demolish the former school, Zehring learned that a time capsule might have been placed in the capstone on the corner of the building.
“As you can see we chipped it out with chisels and hammers,” Zehring said, pointing to a two-foot square gaping hole in the corner of the building. “We didn’t realize it was as deep as it was, but we were determined to get it out of there, so we kept chipping away at it. It was about four days to chip the whole thing out.”
Zehring loaded the concrete block capstone into a truck with a forklift and took it to county officials. Members of the Greene County Records and Archives staged an opening of the 109-year-old time capsule, on June 7 at 10 a.m. — the same day and hour that Jefferson Township became officially recognized as part of the county.
"Opening a time capsule is always exciting, but it’s also a little bit unnerving."
At the capsule opening, 104-year-old Greene County resident Iola Creamer spoke about the history of the school, which combined nine one-room school houses into a centralized building.
“The Bowersville Jefferson School had the honor of being the first centralized school in Greene County, Ohio," Creamer recalled. "The building was first used May the 5th, 1916, for two ceremonies: an eighth grade graduation of five students, and a senior commencement ceremony for four graduates, Mildred Beal Herring, Lamar Dubbs, Dean Hunt and Harold Rakefield.”
Creamer started at the Jefferson Township Centralized School in 1925, graduating in 1935 as the class salutatorian.
“There was no running water in the building but two drinking wells —one on the east side and one on the west side. And you were supposed to have your own collapsible cup, but tin cups were hanging on the hooks. There were also two outhouses, one for girls and one for boys behind the buildings,” Creamer told the audience. “The first school year opened September the 12th, 1916, with Mr. Driscoll as superintendent. There were 238 grade school students, 37 high school students, nine teachers, and eight horse drawn routes with drivers to provide the transportation.”
As members from the community gathered to watch the time capsule being opened, Head Archivist Robin Heise addressed the crowd.
"The items placed in the time capsule provide a snapshot of what was occurring in the local community, highlight recent community accomplishments, technology and provide insight into important people and organizations,” Heise said. "Opening a time capsule is always exciting, but it’s also a little bit unnerving. Because it’s exciting to think that you are the first person in 109 years to touch the contents in that box. But it’s unnerving because you never know what's coming out of the time capsule. Will there actually be something in the time capsule, or will this be another Al Capone's vault?”
The four archivists pulled on gloves before opening the small copper box to discover several items, including small bottles that once held liquid but are now empty, handwritten letters that are now moldy, and faded newspaper clippings about the school from 1915.
Elise Kelly pulled a small pamphlet out of the box.
“It kind of looks like a Masonic Directory - Greene County Ohio Masonic directory. I’m almost afraid to open it up. Just a little pamphlet of that, and then on the back it says Smith Advertising Company, Xenia, Ohio," she said, looking at the discolored paper.
As for the former school, the Zehrings plan to incorporate the land into their surrounding farm fields once the buildings are demolished.
