According to Hewson Peeke’s A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, (Lewis Publishing, 1916), in 1843 a committee of three was appointed to “prepare and present a plan for the erection of one or more school houses in the town of Sandusky.” The committee members included Moors Farwell, Alexander M. Porter, and Zenas W. Barker. The earliest school buildings were the East Market School, pictured above, the West Market School and the Academy building. The East and West Market Schools, both constructed of limestone, were built in 1845. You can still see the East Market School building, behind Variety Village. This school served students in Sandusky throughout the late 1800s. The East Market School was built on Fulton Street near East Market Street. For a time the Waldricher Pump Works was in business at the former East Market School. Below is a picture of the former school building, taken in 1990.
Another early Sandusky school building was known as the Academy building. Though this structure was built as a school, it also served as the Erie County Courthouse before the present Courthouse was constructed in 1874.
The Academy building sat just north of the Emmanuel Church, as seen on page 19 of the 1886 Sanborn Map, which shows the “new” High School, which opened in 1869, as well as the old Academy building:
A previous blog entry reports on an antislavery meeting that was held at the Academy building in March of 1844.
To read more about the early public schools of Sandusky, read articles 48 and 49 in From the Widow’s Walk, by Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann (Follett House Museum, 1991.)