Schools

Photo Courtesy of Dave Milem

As soon as communities were settled, the next order of business would be to establish churches and schools. In the early days of small communities, churches and schools used the same buildings, so that you will notice many crossovers in some of these areas. Early schools and churches became community centers, and several post offices were established in these early buildings.

These early schools, like those of most of the older places in Ohio, were, at first, subscription schools, i.e., a certain number of parents formed a sort of organization, and each subscribed a certain amount of money to pay a teacher and defray the few other expenses than necessary for the holding of a school for a few months during the winter. Sometimes several terms were held during the year.

In 1898, many schools were established when the modern idea of professional training for teachers was beginning to gain a foothold in Southern Ohio. Many progressive teachers felt that Normal Schools would solve the problem of securing properly trained teachers for young folks.

Accordingly, Oscar Neff and W. A. Russell taught a Normal School at Getaway. It proved so successful that it was continued the following year by W. A. Russell and Roscoe Wiseman, the enrollment reaching “the high-water mark,” so to speak, of over 100 students. Because of some large apple trees in the schoolyard, it became known as” Orchard Academy.”

After several years, however, due to changes in the requirements of teachers, the establishment of normal courses at colleges, the better means of communication, etc., the local normals disappeared, and with them went “Orchard Academy.” Some of these same conditions prevented the establishment of modern high schools in such small villages as Getaway, so the people there had to be content with merely a grade school.

Schools

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