Sherman School 1953

Row 1 top - George Barhorst, Mary Seger, Tom Eilerman, Ellen Eilerman, Eddie Barhorst, Irene Wappelhorst.

Row 2 - Karen Pleiman, Ben Geise, Pat Eilerman, Ionia Siegel

Row 3 - Helen Siegel, Vernon Siegel, Margie Marshall, Arthur Cetone (teacher), Barb Barhorst, Art Seger, Margaret Siegel.

Row 4 - Margie Wappelhorst, Richie Eilerman, Jeannette Siegel, Ted Barhorst, Marie Seger, Don Wappelhorst.

Sherman Special School

On June 22, 1850 the qualified voters of McLean Township, School District No. 4 met at the house of Henry Sherman. He was elected clerk and John Rottinghaus was elected treasurer. It was resolved by the board that an 18x18 foot schoolhouse be built on the North East corner of the land owned by Henry Sherman. An agreement was entered with John Sherman for building the schoolhouse for which he was to receive $25 when the building was completed.

In 1851 the 25 to 32 scholars were taught for 4 months by William Sherman and 2 months by Henry Sherman for which they were paid $14 a month. Subjects taught were reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar and German language.

In 1883 the district became Sherman Special School District. The present Sherman School was built on the corner of Barhorst Rd. and Rt. 705 in Section 10 of McLean Township in 1903. The contract went to Ben Gerling and Louis Ley of Minster for $1,947.09.

The school closed in 1954 and the students transferred to Ft. Loramie. The children living at Shorts and Filburn's Landings at Lake Loramie attended Sherman School until 1951. The building is now a house.

Starting in 1914 students were taken to school by wagon and sled. The contract was put out for bids and there was only one bid which was rejected so it was put up again and 2 people bid on it. James Chambers promised to do it for $2.35 a day and the board had to provide the wagon. The contract went to William Combs for $2.25 a day. James Chambers conveyed pupils to school from 1917 to 1919 and Elmer Chambers held the job from then until 1936.

Some of the teachers:

Timothy Sullivan - 1888
John Barhorst - 1889
F.J. Kohls - 1891
John Barhorst - 1894-1895
H.J. Sherman - 1895-1898
William J. Borger - 1899
Frank Niederkorn - 1903-1907
Louis Brucken - 1908-1910
Florian Notheis - 1910-1913
Marie Trimpe - 1913-1915
Florian Notheis - 1915-1918
Pauline Ernst - 1918-1919
Joseph Gigandet - 1919-1924
Alma Gigandet - 1924-1926
Robert Gigandet - 1926-1930
Charles Sharp - 1930-1932
Irene Behrns - 1932 for one month
Charles Sharp - 1932-1933
Herbert Walter - 1933-1935
Florence Sommer - 1935-1941
JoeKloecker - 1941-1947
Ruth Carter Barhorst - 1947-1950
Arthur Cetone - 1950-1954.

Note of appreciation

Joyce Alig, President of Mercer County Historical, read our book, "Fort Loramie, Main Street and Beyond", and sent this:

"Going through your new book about Fort Loramie has been a true pleasure.
First, the cover and the quality of the pages and the neatness of the presentation and the highlights of color throughout this book are quite impressive, especially for a book addressing a local history of a community. Your Fort Loramie Historical Association can be most proud of this book."

Museum news

Sometime during the winter the sump pump in the museum broke down and the basement was flooded with 10 inches of water.  The pump has been replaced but we lost 2 water heaters.  Donations would be appreciated.

It probably seems like we need something all the time but it is an old building and needs constant maintenance.  Everytime we turn around something else breaks down.

Inside Bruckens

Let me know if you know who any of these people are.

It happened in April

1919 - Ohio State Senator Ake introduced a bill banning German from the public schools.

The village school children celebrated Arbor Day by planting 2 weeping birch trees in honor of former pupils, Louis Daniel and Grover Cox, both casualties in WWI.

1947 - After 30 years the Village Beautiful Club voted to change its name to the Agenda Club.

1943 - The Bureau of Mines revealed that dolomite, an ore needed for the manufacture of war weapons, was discovered in several locations in Shelby County.

Flood photo

March newsletter

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the 1913 flood. There has been a lot of coverage on television and books have been written about it. There are photos on our Facebook page. You need to be on Facebook yourself to see it. There are memories by people who lived through it on the Ft. Loramie News blog.

http://fortloramienews.blogspot.com/
 
There are plans to place a plaque on our barn on Elm Street marking the Buckeye Trail which goes right past there. Many have hiked the trail which is marked with blue blazes on trees and poles.

Tom Busse has been at work. He painted and rearranged the shelves in the doll room and did the same with the Civil War case in the military room. When he took the paper off the inside of the case he found it had been painted in 1970's harvest gold.  Mercifully it has been redone in white.  The roof on the old part of the building has been replaced.  Plans have been made to replace the curtains in the parlor which have been there since we acquired the building forty years ago.

Al Freytag, a long-time member of the historical association has passed away.  He and Mrs. Freytag have always been generous benefactors of our organization and many others.

Mary Oldiges, curator of the museum in Minster, is doing their display this year on the businesses that are and were on Fourth St.  One of them was the Bornhorst Shoe Store. We have artifacts from that store so we are loaning some of them to Minster for the summer.  Mary said she is impressed that Fort Loramie still has most of its old buildings intact. 

We still have copies of our latest book, Fort Loramie Main Street and Beyond.  It costs $35 plus tax.  You can get your copy at the Silver Cross in Fort Loramie or call one of the officers. 

If you would like to join the Fort Loramie Historical Association the dues are $10.  Call Sheila Quinlin at 937-295-4019.  We are also happy to accept donations.

The 1913 flood

In Ft. Loramie flood waters took out the aquaduct and water was up to the swing bridge at Elm St. Mrs. Mary Fortman who lived just south of where the golf course is now said the water was up to their garden and they could take a boat and row all the way to Ft. Loramie 2 miles away.

According to Scott Trostel in his book, "water in the Loramie Reservoir had risen so rapidly that the feeder was overflowing by four feet. There was a growing fear the bulkhead on the west end of the reservoir would let go. Mr. J. Pauwell, caretaker at the reservoir engaged a large number of men, estimated at between 50 and 60, to fill sacks with sand and dirt which was used to reinforce the levee bank. Their work was dangerous and they were in peril of being swept into flood waters at any moment. It was said that had this precaution not been taken there was not the least doubt that the whole bank in the vicinity of the feeder would have been washed away and probably the larger part of Fort Loramie would have been drowned with water."

There was flooding from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and north to Lima and south to the Ohio River but the towns that suffered most were Dayton, Piqua and Troy.

The flooding was caused by 3 days of rain from March 21 to 24th. Easter Sunday was March 23. 8 to 11 inches of rain fell on the Great Miami River watershed. The ground was frozen and saturated resulting in 90% runoff.

In Dayton flood waters reached 20 feet in the downtown. Wikipedia says 360 people died, 20,000 houses were destroyed and damage reached 100 million dollars. The National Guard was unable to reach the town for days. Houses floated away with people on the roofs.

In Piqua 39 people died. 17 died in Troy. In Sidney the Big 4 bridge was in danger of floating away. A train was pulled onto it to hold it down.

Towns were isolated. Trains didn't run. Roads were closed. Bridges were washed out. Newspapers couldn't publish. People had no heat or food.

The flood effectively put an end to the canal and gave birth to the Miami Conservancy District.

For thrilling stories of rescues and photos see Scott Trostel's book, "And Through The Black Night of Terror". Some of it is on line.

The Great Dayton Flood, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dayton_Flood

http://shelbycountyhistory.org/schs/archives/canalarchives/1913floodcnla.htm

1946-47 Ft. Loramie basketball team

L-R, Gene Hoying, Bill Peterson, Harry Frilling, Paul Ahlers,  Maurice Brandewie, Norman Paulus, Remy Beaver, Marion Paulus.