blog 4

                                                                    
I went to the historical society originally wanting to know more about School House Winery. The winery is located in one of the county's historical school buildings formerly known as district or building number 9. Unfortunately, the information stopped at the school level, not really explaining how it came to be the actual winery. I started looking through the different county books and found some information I thought was much more interesting than anything I may find over building number 9.

The interesting fact I found about the county actually is key to us writing these blogs together. In December of 1772 the construction on the first school building in Ohio began right in the settlement of Schoenbrunn. This was not only the first school in Ohio but also the beginning of an educational movement which would eventually start the education system that we still use today. 

In between 1772, when the school was first under construction, and 1914 schools were created in different towns within the county, later moving on to other counties. 
                  
During the early years there were 3 directors who decided how to run the schools. In 1850 state legislation decided the number needed to be increased to 6. All members were from the county and these 6 people became the first ever Board of Education.

Without the settlement of Schoenbrunn, the education system could have been much different through out the state. The members of the county worked hard to further the education system, even donating funds to build new buildings and buy supplies, when funding was not available from the government. 

Overall I found that the historical society is a neat place to find out more about the community we live in. The people working there were friendly and very helpful. I hope that the historical society can remain functional and maybe even one day get to a point to where they can have more hours of operation.