While the 100-Year Committee’s work was pretty much over back in 2015, the group, which was dedicated to celebrating the school’s centennial anniversary, still had some work to do in completing a display of Cleveland school’s history.
It took a while, but before the 2023 school year started, the display was finally finished and added to the south wall of the new commons. In text and photos, it is a timeline of the school's history, from its humble beginnings in 1858—when 50 students attended school in the Town Hall—to the 2021 addition.
“There is a rich history to this school and community, and I think it is a story worth sharing with anyone willing to learn about it,” said superintendent Brian Phillips. “I believe we look back because of nostalgia for a simpler time, but we also look forward to the new and exciting things the future generations will experience in their lives.”
The display was built with the committee’s leftover funds. Ellen Dickie and Steve Wolf teamed up for design and production, said retired teacher and current substitute Greg Davis (CHS 1967).
Davis introduced the timeline to school staff before the start of school.
“I think it is important for people to know where we’ve been and how we got here.”
He also pointed out the exhibit during a couple of recent class reunion tours of the new building and the rest of the school.
“They tried to figure out the buildings that they were in when they went to school here, and even when they are in them it is ‘I don’t remember this room being that way.’ But that is how it has developed."
In 1865, a dedicated building was built near downtown Cleveland, northwest of the former Methodist church. In 1880, a two-story building was built in the same location or nearby.
In 1914, as eight school districts around Cleveland consolidated, a two-story brick building was constructed on the current school site. It held 225 students and eight teachers. It was razed in 1990 in preparation for new construction, which includes the current main entrance, media center and classrooms upstairs.
In 1949, an addition was built on the north side of the 1914 structure. It is where the old, big gym is today. In 1962, an addition was tacked on to the south side of the 1914 building. It contains elementary classrooms and the science room today. In 1975, the section with the little gym and kindergarten classrooms was added on the north side.