Olive Branch High School

About this property

Olive Branch High School was a public high school near New Carlisle, Ohio. In 1873, a brick structure known as "No. 3" was built to house the Olive Branch School, for grades 4 through 8. In 1878, the Legislature of Ohio passed a law authorizing township Boards of Education to establish a school of higher grade than a common school. A decision was quickly made to create Olive Branch High School, but due to lack of funds, the new school wasn't established until October 1880, when one room of the existing Olive Branch School was put into service for a high school class headed by teacher Robert H. Taylor. Courses taught at the school included Latin, Algebra, Geometry, Science, and others. The first class started with five students, but grew to seven by the time its members graduated from grade 11 in 1883. In 1884, the school became a four-year institution with the addition of a grade 12, so the pupils who graduated in 1883 came back for another year—with a new teacher, as Robert Taylor left after his third year—and graduated again with the class of 1884. That same year, a Superintendent position was created and filled by Mr. Taylor's brother, W.S. Taylor. In 1886, a second teacher was hired, but the faculty was reduced back down to one teacher the following year. The building was also expanded around this time. By 1900, the Olive Branch School building was overcrowded and in disrepair. Some of the repairs mandated by the State Inspector were completed that year, and the Bethel Township Board of Education spent the next six years discussing whether to continue repairs or to construct a new building. Construction of a new building was approved in 1907, and bonds were issued to raise the $30,000 needed to build the new school. The new building was completed in 1908, and all the students were moved to it. This structure, designed in the Craftsman style by architect Charles Insco Williams, was the first to be named Olive Branch High School, although it also still housed the lower grades of sub-district 3. Known locally as the "little round school house", "little round building" or "little round O.B.", this building had a unique circular design with four classrooms that pointed inward to face a central cafeteria and gymnasium. The building was destroyed when a boiler in the basement caught fire on November 10, 1913. Classes were held in a barn until a replacement building was finished in December 1914, at a cost of just under $15,000, for which $7,000 in bonds were issued earlier that year. Built on the same foundation, it was identical to the original building, but had doors added to each classroom so students could easily exit the building in case of fire.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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