8acb8fb15d4285405379f29f9de71705.jpg

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Woosamomsa ice-cream social keeps past alive

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   To pass by it is to see the past kept alive, somehow kept in the present — a reassuring thing.
   It’s the Woosamonsa Schoolhouse, in central Hopewell Township. The one-room schoolhouse, which went out of service long ago, is owned and maintained by the Woosamonsa Schoolhouse Association.
   The association held its annual ice cream social Sunday afternoon. Many people attended, to enjoy free ice cream sundaes atop vanilla, chocolate or really excellent strawberry ice cream and see the inside of the schoolhouse and stroll its grounds.
   This piece of history is at the intersection of Woosamonsa and Poor Farm roads. It’s hard to believe how close to Route 31 it is, because the building and its surroundings still evoke, still seem to display visibly, how Hopewell Township looked over a century ago, when all children of grammar-school age, who lived in that part of the township, went to school there.
   Things were different then. Still standing is a double outhouse behind the school.
   ”This schoolhouse was built in 1875 and was in service until 1918,” said association member Erwin Harbat, a lifelong township resident whose farm on Woosamonsa Road is near the schoolhouse.
   The school district, Mr. Harbat said, gave the then-out-of use schoolhouse building to the association in 1922, on the condition that it be used only for social gatherings and community service purposes. “It used to be a polling place in elections,” Mr. Harbat said. “Sunday School was taught here, too.”
   During the Great Depression, strawberry shortcake socials were held at the schoolhouse. It was hard times, and folks enjoyed stopping in for a special treat while they enjoyed each other’s company.
   ”The strawberries came from local farms,” Mr. Harbat said.
   ”I’ll tell you a good story about this place,” said Mr. Harbat. “In 1898, the school board told a truant teacher that her pay would be docked if she didn’t stop being truant.”
   Asked if her “truancy” meant that she was skipping school altogether, Mr. Harbat said: “No. She was late a lot, apparently. And that was a problem because” — he paused to laugh — “she was the only teacher in the school! Anyhow, the school board told her that if she didn’t rectify this problem, her pay would be docked. Her pay was $37.50 a month.”
   Inside the school, on its north wall, is the school’s original clock, left to the association by one of its members, the late Henry Burd.
   Next to the clock is a framed 19th-century-looking portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Next to that is small blackboard, with a small shelf for chalk underneath it.
   Atop the school is a belfry housing the bell that was rung at the beginning and end of the school day, and to call the children in from recess.
   The bell was rescued and brought back to life nearly 20 years ago.
   One day back then, members of the association found the old bell while clearing and cleaning the school grounds. The words “Fredericksburg, Ohio” were still legible on the bell. After some detective work, the association learned that the bell had been made at the J.B. Foote Foundry in Fredericksburg. So Messrs. Harbat and Burd drove, in two days, the 1,004-mile round trip to Fredericksburg and met with Tom Updike, president of J.B. Foote, which had been in s business since 1851.
   Mr. Foote, a history buff himself, told his visitors that, while his company had stopped making bells long ago, it would provide a bell for the Woosamonsa Schoolhouse from its collection of vintage bells. He did that for $100, which included $24 for shipping.
   In the early 20th century, there were 14 one-room or very small schoolhouses in Hopewell Valley.
   ”The idea was that every child should be within walking distance of a school, so the schools were spread out,” Mr. Harbat said.