This old schoolhouse, built in 1893, stood on the former Albon farm and served what was at that time a solidly rural populace, quite a distance from dirty, noisy Toledo. Picture farm children walking a mile to school in heat or cold, after having done farm chores for a couple of hours before ever leaving home - and doing more of them after walking back in the afternoon!
The school closed in 1926 when a township school district was established. After that, it underwent usage as diverse as a chicken coop, a home, and a church! The area gradually and eventually became a well-heeled suburb. The land on which the school stood, bordered the estate of the Stranahans, one of Toledo's foremost historical families. In 1974, the Stranahan estate passed via a vote of the people, into the hands of the metropark system and was developed into what is now one of Toledo's most popular parks, Wildwood. The schoolhouse, still at the edge of the park, was moved in 1998 to a more central location within the park, in order to both get it out of the way of a planned subdivision and to make it available to park visitors.
The park offers step-back-in-time programs for both adults and children, where a schoolmarm will teach you readin', writin', and 'rithmetic.
I'm not sure if these constitute either the drinking fountain, or the bathrooms!
Ahhhh, maybe not so much ...
Looks like there's maybe a bit too much skylight there ...
Way too much.
This church has housed the same congregation and denomination since its inception in 1887, before and since the building of this house of worship in 1923. On June 25th, 2009, something caused it to get a bit too warm in the sanctuary even by summer standards:
Man, that's ugly. Scary. Thank God there was no one in the place at the time.
I think that staircase might actually still be stable. It looks like there's some new framing at the edge of what used to be the balcony. And while most of the remaining old windows have crumbled, this one still glows with the sunlight ...
The congregation is using their fellowship hall, located across the street, for their services. They're determined to stay where they're at and make it good. These people are unstoppable. Hallelujah.
