Calhoun County High School has rich history
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GRANTSVILLE -- With the recent purchase of the former Calhoun County High School building, a local historian shared some of the history of the site.
Bob Bonar was the principal at the high school and talked about the events and people that made the building what it is today.
In the early 1900s, Bonar said it was a big deal around the state for communities to build high schools and in 1920, ground broke for the building.
"They built it out of native Arnoldsburg formation sand stone which is good building stone here in the county (and it was) done with local labor," he said.
With Grantsville as the county seat of Calhoun County, Bonar said it was decided for the town to be the site of the school. At that time, there was no bus service and that's where a majority of people lived.
"The first year they had classes, the building wasn't finished (so) they had them in the courthouse. They started in the new building for the 1923-1924 school year and then in 1925, they had their first graduating class," Bonar said.
Because there was no bus service, Bonar said at the time, attending high school was like going off to college in modern times - students would live with people whose houses were near the school.
The principal at the time approached the board of education about the need for buses and Bonar said in 1930, Calhoun was one of the early counties to provide bus service.
"Things went along swimmingly when they started buses," Bonar said.
In February 1942, the school caught fire and the whole interior was destroyed. But with the strong structure from the sandstone, Bonar said the outside was not damaged.
After the fire, students relocated to other buildings for their classes. Within 11 months, the school reopened.
With some of the building additions, lumber from Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was brought in due to the lack of supplies because of World War II.
The board of education also made it possible for the installation of a HVAC system which was uncommon in the state at the time.
"Our board was very smart in negotiating some of the things they did," Bonar said.
Another piece of the building's history involved a Supreme Court case.
"There's an interesting court case where they fired the principal because some Jehovah's Witness students would not salute the flag," Bonar said.
In order to respect their religious beliefs, Bonar said the principal at the time would allow the students to step outside into the hallway whenever the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
The board of education wanted the principal to enforce the children to say the pledge and it led to a Supreme Court case which the principal won.
The building closed in 1998 and the standing Calhoun County Middle High School is in Mt. Zion.
With the building now under the ownership of the 1982 Foundation, made up of alumni from the Class of 1982, Bonar thinks it will be a good opportunity for the community.
Crystal Mersh, founder of the group, is a familiar face to Bonar.
"I had her in school. This is the best plan so far. We have had about four or five different owners and this is far and above a wonderful plan," Bonar said.