1887 - 1906 History

Goshen has always taken a great interest in her school and in 1928, Principal F.B. Hoggatt recorded this information in the GHS yearbook. It mentions many old Goshen family members and many beloved teachers and administrators and highly illustrates the love of education many Goshen citizens exhibited in the years gone bye.

One of the first schools in the township was taught in the Myers neighborhood by John Hill. The house stood on the lot at present occupied by the cemetery, and was but little better than a hut of round logs. There was a puncheon floor, slab seats and the windows were of sized paper greased to more readily admit the light. What heat was required, was given out by a huge fire at one end of the room, the smoke being carried off by a stick chimney on the outside of the house. A better building afterwards occupied the same site and schools were taught for many years. Among the teachers were Samuel Anderson, Joshua Simpson, Sarah Roudebush, Absalom Fisher, Alva Whitney and Mary Blackstone.

About 1805, a school was taught in the western part of the township, on the present (1928) Porter farm, the teacher being a muscular Irishman named Mitchel. In 1807, a school was taught in a log cabin, a mile south of Goshen, by a Samuel Malsbury. In the village, John Beatty (afterwards a judge) taught the first school. Charles Vaughan, James Simpson, and William Roudebush were also early teachers here.

A large degree of interest in higher education was early manifested among the people of Goshen and on the 7th day of December in 1835, the Rev. L. G. Gaines, the Presbyterian minister, opened a select school or academy in a log building about one mile and a half southwest from Goshen. The school was well attended and under Mr. Gaines’ instruction the different studies were successfully pursued with the pupils making rapid strides in knowledge. Mr. Gaines was a through teacher, a rigid disciplinarian and he labored untiringly to promote the welfare of his school. For a time, he was assisted by Dr Colin Spence of Perins Mills, and it is a somewhat singular fact that of the young men who attended, a large proportion of the became physicians: many o f them attaining eminence in the practice of medicine. Among the pupils of Mr. Gaines’ "Quail Academy" as it was locally called, (probably from a fancied resemblance to a quail trap), were Dr. Townsend Thacker and Dr John E Meyers of Goshen; Dr. John S. Combs of Boston,: Dr. Phillip B. Gatch of Milford; Dr. Alexander Johnson, Dr. Hamilton Cox, Judge Joseph Cox, and Lawyer John Johnson of Cincinnati, Ohio; DR. Whitaker Bishop of Loveland; Dr. L.W. Bishop of Batavia; Dr. Reuben Bishop and Drs John and William Gaines. Mr. Gaines kept up his school, about ten years and after his removal to Williamsburg, he had a select school at that place a few years, which was also promotive of much good.

A bit of history by P.C. Hill seems to fit in well at this point. Mr. Hill was a student and a teacher of Goshen Township Schools around the middle of the century. He is now a resident of Glendale, Ohio. The location of Goshen was determined by Mr. Wood, the father of Elias wood, early in the 19th Century. Some of the inhabitants of the village of the 19th Century were; Elias Wood, Samuel Nichols, Jared Height, Hector Lynch, Charles Vaughn, Hector Seeley, Ephriam Smith, Peter Ringer, Daniel Holmes, Andrew Hill, Moses Freyburger, Squire McKinney, Squire O’Neal, Jeremiah Robbins, Abram Teetor, Richard Bell and Samuel Smith. The latter was Post-Master for a long time and lived near the school house.

The Leevers, the Leepers , the Myers, the Roudebushes and the Applegates owned farms in the vicinity. The first houses were logs but were soon supplanted by frame and brick as the old saw-mill run by Donnelly on the O’Bannon creek made lumber from logs for building purposes and the brick formed from the clay soil. The churches of 1840 were the Methodist, the Presbyterian and the Universalist. The latter was on the "Other Hill" as the North of the town was called.

A brick school house of two rooms was built near the eastern part of the town on the brow of the hill overlooking the creek. The seats in the north room were only benches, some with backs and some without. The hall separating the two rooms extended clear through with a door at each end. In the south room the seats were large and the aisles sloped toward the hall so that the rear seats were four feet or more higher than those in front.

Some of the early teachers were James Hill, Mrs. Holmes, Mr. Milner, Mr. Yost and Sarah E. Applegate. Miss Applegate also taught at Charleston, east of Goshen walking there and back each day and receiving the munificent sum of $12.50 per month for her services.

The terms of the Public Schools were usually short and were frequently followed by a short term of private instruction with the parent paying about a dollar a month for each pupils. Some of the pupils attending these schools about the middle of the Century were: Oscar Wood, Thomas and Will South, Louise Smith, Ann Shannon, George Holmes, Margaret Teetor, Elizabeth Hill, Clay Vaughn, Daniel Reed, Davis Milner, Bradford Ringer, Gaddis Freyburger, Bell McKinney and P.C. Hill.

Near this time, the Marietta R.R., now the B. & O. was projected to pass along the east line of the present school ground but as only two of the inhabitants were willing to give aid and all the property owners wanted damages for passing through their land, the route was changed from Blanchester to pass through Pleasant Plain and Cozaddale to Loveland.

This institution of learning owes its existence to an organized effort on the part of the citizens of the village, April 12, 1860, to form a stock company for the purpose of erecting a building to be used for the promotion of higher education. The capital stock was fixed at two thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each, to be paid in three installments; all the money to be applied in erecting a house and furnishing the same. Seven trustees were to be elected annually. On the 21st of April, the first board of trustees were selected as follows: Caleb Oliver, President; Abram Teetor, Secretary, Richard Roudebush, Treasurer; Samuel Nichols, Harvey Irwin, John Applegate and Thomas Dewey.

In the summer of 1860, the seminary building, a two story brick edifice thirty by fifty feet, was erected at a cost of nearly five thousand dollars. It was located on a little knoll which gave it a commanding appearance. It had a very attractive campus. The house was first occupied for school purposes in the spring of 1861; but the school thus begun, failed to realize the expectations of the founders of the seminary.

The first successful school was taught in 1862 by Prof. George H. Hill and for nine years he presided over the seminary conducting it on his own responsibility and having absolute control of everything except the building. In 1872, W.O. Hopkins took charge of the seminary and taught several years, being followed by L.M. Nevius who also carried on the school for several years.

After September 1879, Prof. C. M. Riggs was principal of the seminary and under his supervision it again took a firm hold upon the confidence of the citizens of Goshen, who awarded it a liberal patronage. The scholarship year consisted of four terms of eleven weeks each , and at appropriate periods, lectures upon relevant subjects were delivered.

Front row, starting on the left is Cassus Bishop and next to him is Amanda Stouder with the other students unidentified.

Second row, starting fourth on the left is Martha Lesh Bishop and next to her is Orin Morris.

Third row, starting second on the row is Nellie Robbins Williams, Herb Renner, Mary Lesh, Elizabeth "Libby" Elston, Unknown student and John Heywood.

Fourth Row contains teacher C.M. Riggs, standing fourth from the left.

Unidentified but included in the class are John Miller, Cora Arthur, John Dickenson, Sally McMullen, Ida Leever Custer, Frank Snider(MD), Ella Leever, F. Farson and Josey Ramsey

Professor Riggs remained in charge of the seminary until 1884 when David Dailey assumed the school leadership. Professor Dailey was succeeded by E. M. Quayle in 1885. Professor Quayle was followed by Judson Gatch in 1886.

The seminary had been a subscription school up to 1877 when the school was chartered as Goshen Township School of Higher Grade. The local district school having been abandoned, through the efforts of James Malloy, Sr., the local director, the pupils were transferred to the seminary building on the hill below town. The seminary building was first leased and after the original seminary bondholders had been relieved of their obligations, the seminary became the property of the township.