| I attended Jimtown School in the
1920’s. The one-room school, constructed of red brick with a belfry on top, housed
all eight grades. There was no kindergarten. Located at Russell Road and Wapakoneta Road,
the school served the Jimtown area, not yet a part of Sidney.
A
large potbelly stove provided heat in the winter. The teacher or some of the larger boys
in the class were in charge of building the fire. At times, the downdraft was more than
the updraft, creating a smoke-filled classroom. Evacuation was necessary until the smoke
cleared the room. The bell would ring and students would return. Coal and wood provided
the heat.
Most students returned home for lunch since no cafeteria was
provided. Only a few students carried their lunches. Lighting inside the classroom
was poor. To provide more light, it was necessary to cut down several trees. Later, the
parents collectively came up with enough money to provide electricity and three light
bulbs helped tremendously.
The desks were fastened down with inkwells in the upper right-hand
corner of each desk. Pens were dipped into the ink bottle and caution was needed to
prevent smearing the slow-drying ink once it was used on the paper. A few students had ink
blotters (with advertisements) to take up the excess slow-drying ink, since ballpoint pens
were not available in the 1920s. A girl’s pigtails sometimes were dipped in the ink
bottles by some mischievous boy sitting behind her.
Plumbing consisted of two outhouses, one for boys and one for girls,
with a gravel path to both. Drink facilities consisted of a well with a hand-operated pump
handle. A tin cup was available but most parents insisted on their children using their
own drink container. Ball games were
active during recess. Swings were usually busy as well as jump ropes.
Ethel Price Sharp, a teacher at Jimtown, started the first PTA in Shelby County, an
organization that later raised money to provide electricity for the school. Florence
English McClure was Jimtown’s first PTA president. Chairs for parent meetings came
from several sources. Contributors were Plum Creek Church, different funeral homes, and
the American Legion.
Students living south of Bennett Street attended the Second Ward
School (corner of Miami and Jefferson streets) and those north of Bennett Street went to
Jimtown. The location of the Jimtown School was not without its critics. The most often
heard was "Why was it built clear out in the country?"
Little do the present-day students of Parkwood School realize their
playground area was also the playground of the Jimtown School. Parkwood Elementary came
along in 1930, which spelled destruction of the one-room school known as Jimtown
School.
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