The Development of Grove City and the Schools - Part 4

(The following was written by Faye and Harold Morland, and is reprinted from “The Epoch of the Park Street School 1853-1964 and Grove City, Ohio”.  Any opinions made in the article are from the author.)Grove City was growing. The Mt. Sterling hack and other horse-drawn wagons rumbled over the Broad Street corduroy pavements. This pavement was logs and planks lying side-by-side across the road to prevent the wagons from becoming mired in the deep mud.More settlers came. More stores and more churches were being added to Grove City. About this time, the early 1870’s, the Council of Grove City passed some ordinances, one of them:A fine of $0.25 minimum and $2.00 maximum would be imposed on violators who galloped a horse, mare or gelding on any Grove City Street.County Road was settled between st. John's Lutheran Church and Hoover Road. It later was named Stringtown Road, because these settlers all played stringed instruments. They formed a band and played in a “Spirits Club” on the corner of Hoover Road. The settlement was called String Band Town. Later the word Band was dropped and the settlement was called Stringtown. The road picked up that name.The nights were dark. Street lights were unknown until the 1870’s when several coal oil street lamps appeared. In the late 1880’s they were replaced by improved gasoline and air mixture lamps. These were in use until electricity was established in 1913.On November 1, 1884, the first train to run over the Cincinnati, Midland City and Columbus Railroad (now the B. & O.) stopped in Grove City. The Grove City commuter train service to Columbus started in 1891. The hack or stagecoach service was discontinued. The fastest steam locomotives took over, carrying large numbers of people and much freight.Among the rules and regulations adopted by the early Board of Education of Grove City Special School District where the following:

It shall be the duty of the board to provide at least two sessions in each year; the first to commence on or about the first Monday in November and to continue four months of twenty-two days per month; the school during the second session to be divided into two departments whenever the school scholars demand it.Other sections provided for legal holidays, for teaching certain branches, for regulation of conduct, and suspension of undesirable pupils.One section reads: “It shall be the duty of teachers to prevent pupils from going to or hanging around the stores or taverns during recess.”

The code was signed by Joseph Bulen, William Nichols and R. Higgy, directors of the board.(The continuation of this story in the next blog entry.)