By Jaime Palinchak

The Old Stone School is located at the corner of Broadway and Buchtel Avenues.  Built in the early 1830s, it was the first schoolhouse built in Akron. The school was originally called the schoolhouse of Portage Township School District No. 2. General Simon Perkins gave the property as a gift in 1837 after the original deed was lost by school directors. The school’s sturdy construction out of sawn lumber would have been rather unique since during the first half of the 19^th century, the Ohio School Law limited the amount that could be acquired by taxation to fund school construction to $200; private donations must have been collected. The State School fund given by the State of Ohio was not enough to cover the school teacher’s full salary. As a result, parents were required to pay as much as two dollars per child to attend winter sessions as well as to provide firewood for the school, house and feed the teacher in the winter. School was taught in the winter months because other jobs were not available; teachers worked elsewhere during the warmer months. The one-room schoolhouse model was used through the Civil War because of tax issues and difficulty obtaining loans. The Akron Board of Education did not receive a loan until 1867 after the local bank had changed management. This led to a “schoolhouse building boom” in Akron, and Schoolhouse #2 was among those that were refurbished in stone. The school was closed and sold to the railroad within ten years of its renovation because it was too small. Today, the building is owned by the Summit County Historical Society and remains a popular educational venue for local school field trips.