Hamilton Township: 1919-1924
When the school in Lockbourne became too crowded, around 1915, the board of education decided to construct a larger facility near the center of the township and four acres of land were purchased from Clara Hann for the building. The Rohr Road site abutted tracks owned by the Chesapeake and Hocking Railroad (later the Chesapeake and Ohio) and the Scioto Valley Traction Company (an interurban system).
The electrified interurban railway was a convenient method to transport students from Obetz and Lockbourne to the new high school, which was named after a nearby Scioto Valley Interurban Power Station located in Reese and named for the Miner family.
Construction on the school began in 1916. The Class of 1918 (Marie Davy, Edna Nelp, Edith Spangler, Esther O’Harra, Gladys McDaniel, Blanche Miller and Franklin Wood) hoped to start their senior year in the new building, but it was not completed in time and they remained at Lockbourne for half of the school year.
Three teachers, including the principal, instructed the first 42 high school students. World War I was raging in Europe and the students did their part to support stateside efforts by selling thrift stamps. The Spanish Flu was a worldwide pandemic from 1918-1919 and the Ohio State Board of Health temporarily closed all schools on Oct. 11, 1918. The following September, 30 students were enrolled at the high school level. The 1919 graduating class consisted of only five male students—Lawrence Dill, William Hunter, Alvin Peters, Roland Vaughn and Olin Young.
However, within 10 years enrollment reached 100 students. The school fielded both men’s and women’s basketball teams, had large home economics and vocational programs, held theatrical presentations and provided instruction in the classics and foreign language. Older graduates recall attending Miner High School by way of a hand cart on the railroad tracks. The Scioto Valley Traction Company and the Ohio Southern Traction Company were paid to transport students to and from school, in addition to bus drivers employed by the district. – See more at:
J. B. Lane, 1919-1920
J. B. Lane graduated from The Ohio State University in 1917. He taught vocational agriculture at Hamilton Township one year. He then left the work to go into part-time farming but continued teaching science and other academic subjects at Hamilton Township for nine years. He moved to Stark County where he first taught in one-local school before teaching in the Massillon Schools. From 1943 to 1945 he worked with the Red Cross. Then he entered a business which he continued until retiring in 1960.
W. F. Bruce, 1920-1924
W. F. Bruce graduated from The Ohio State University in 1911. He had been teaching prior to accepting the position of instructor of vocational agriculture at New Vienna in 1918. In 1920 he was employed at the Hamilton Township High School to continue the program at the teacher training center started by J. B. Lane the year before. He remained there for four years. After receiving his PhD at Cornell in 1927, he began employment at Oneonta State Teachers College in New York and continued until retiring in 1948. He passed away December 24, 1964.
Additional reading:
http://www.hamilton-local.k12.oh.us/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=10&dasi=1I#sthash.0Qg0cng2.dpuf