Middletown Schools -Past---Present

Since the time we graduated from Middletown High School, many of the Middletown school buildings that existed at that time have disappeared. In some cases a new school was built on the same site and in other cases, there is just empty space where a school once stood.

The following before-and-after pictures is an attempt to bring you up to date on what has happened in Middletown School District over the past 60 years.

North School, built in 1891, was located at the corner of N. Main & Manchester Ave. It was in use until 1951. It was demolished later and the "new" YMCA now sits on this site.

South School, also known at one time as the Union School, built in 1871 was located on S. Main St. between 4th and 5th. Ave. It closed in 1951. In 1952 it became the first home of Middletown Fenwick Catholic High School until 1962. It was vacated in 1962 when a new Fenwick High School opened on University Blvd. near the Miami University Middletown campus. South School was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1965. The site is now Old South Park.

Jefferson Elementary , originally known as the Charles St. School, was built in 1912 with additions added in 1921 and 1959. It was demolished in 2003.

Sherman Elementary There was a West Sherman school, built in 1904 which can be seen in the background to the right, and an East Sherman school, shown above, built in 1915. The two buildings were connected sometime after 1915 and Sherman school was closed in 1981 and demolished.

Young Street Elementary, built in 1917 and was in use until 1957. It was later demolished.

Garfield Elementary, built in 1927, closed in 1981 and demolished in 2006.

Lincoln Elementary, built in 1921 and closed in 1980 after which students were moved up Central Ave. to Roosevelt which became an elementary school. The picture on the left was taken in 1930 and on the right is the way the building looks today. The Lincoln School building was purchased by a local dentist in the 1980s..

Amanda Elementary School originally built in 1873. Additions were added in 1925, 1930,1937,1941 and 1953. It closed in 1981 and was demolished in 2003.

Mayfield Elementary opened on Burbank St. in 1939 with additions added in 1951,1954,1960 and 1964. It was in use until shortly before it was demolished in 2006 and replaced with a new building. (See photo below)

Wilson Elementary built in 1951 with an addition added in 1966. It was demolished in 2005 and replaced by a new Highview School. (See photo below)

Central School , located at the corner of First Ave and Garfield St., originally called East School, built in 1885. An addition was added about 1904. It closed in June 1958 and was demolished soon after to make room for a new Central School..

Booker T. Washington School . located on S. Main St., between 17th and 18th Ave., was opened in 1918 as the result of efforts by Armco president George M. Verity to improve the educational opportunities for black students many of whom came to Middletown as a result of their father's employment with Armco. As the black population grew, the schools near Booker T. Washington took the overflow and the process of integrating Middletown's schools began. In 1955, the building became Edison School and became one of the opportunity schools for slow learning students. It closed in 1971 and was torn down.

McKinley Junior High School built in 1929-1930 on what became Verity Parkway. McKinley, and Roosevelt Junior High on Central Ave., were both built at the same time and were magnificent buildings and considered state of the art at that time. McKinley became a Middle School (grades 6-7-8) from 1969 to 1979. It became an elementary school in 1981 and closed finally in the spring of 2004. The picture on the right, taken by Jack Robinson in November, 2004, shows the final demise of McKinley

Roosevelt Junior High built in 1929-1930 on east Central Ave. It was a Middle School (grades 6-7-8) from 1969 to 1979. It was closed in the spring of 1979 and reopened as an elementary school in the fall of 1980. It closed for the final time in the spring of 2008. The picture in the center was taken in Nov. 2010 showing the gym on the right, and the auditorium on the left already torn down. On the right is how the site looked in mid Dec. 2010. The Middletown Historical Society, and others in the community staged a campaign to save the building, but in the end these efforts were unsuccessful.

Middletown High School located on Girard Ave. between Baltimore and Clark St., was built in 1923 and operated as a high school until 1969 when it became Middletown Freshman High School. In the fall of 1981 it became Stephen Vail Middle School, as pictured immediately above. A major addition was made in 1952 which included the 3,600 seat Wade E. Miller gym which remains to this day the home court of the Middletown Middies. The great success of Middies Basketball, led by coach Paul Walker, created the need for a larger basketball venue.

Barnitz Stadium opened in 1950, and it was here that the graduation ceremony for the class of 1951 took place. McKinley Junior High School can be seen just beyond. On the right is, or was, the beautiful Barnitz Field Gate facing Main St. In 1983, an out-of-town school bus was driven through the gate and knocked it down and it has not been rebuilt.

Central Elementary School built in 1959 on First Ave at Garfield St., the site of the original Central School. It was closed in 1982 and became the Central Academy, a non-graded school. Central School is now the home of Butler County Educational Service Center's Early Learning Center.

Creekview Elementary School built in 1961 on Loretta Dr. near S. Marshall Rd. It was demolished in 2006 and replaced in 2008 with a new Creekview Elementary School (see below)

Oneida Elementary School built in 1953 on S. Yankee Rd. It was demolished in 2002.

Taft Elementary School built in 1952 at the corner of Yankee Rd. and Verity Pkwy. It has demolished and replaced by Rosa Parks Elementary School which was built on the McKinley school site (see below)

Wildwood Elementary School built in 1959 on Wildwood Rd. on property donated by Armco Steel that was originally part of the original Armco Park. It was demolished in 2006 and replaced by a new Wildwood School. (see below)

Spring Hill Elementary School built in 1955 on Brell Dr. in the north part of Middletown. It closed in 1982. It is now the home of Spring Hill Church of Christ

Rosedale Elementary School built in 1966 on Sophie Dr. near Marshall Rd and Rosedale Rd. It became the Central Academy in 2009.

(Part 2) - During the 1950s and 1960s, Middletown built a number of new schools and, as of 2009, many of them have been replaced, demolished or sold & used for a different purpose.

(Part 4) New Middletown Elementary Schools built since 2005

Verity Middle School (grades 6-7-8) was built in 1968 along the east side of S. Breiel Blvd.

Creekview Elementary built in 2008 adjacent to the site of the original Creekview School

Highview Elementary built in 2008 on Highview Rd. on the site previously occupied by Wilson School.

Mayfield Elementary built in 2008 on Burbank St. on the site previously occupied by the original Mayfield school. This school is also the home of the G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education) program

Miller Ridge Elementary built in 2008 on Miller Rd. off of N. Breiel Blvd in the northeast corner of the city limits of Middletown

Rosa Parks Elementary built in 2006 on S. Verity Pkwy just east of Barnitz Field on the previous site of McKinley School

Wildwood Elementary built in 2008 on Wildwood Rd. on the site of the original Wildwood school. This school offers the ESL (English as a Second Language) program.

Middletown High School built on N. Breiel Blvd, near Manchester Rd., and near the campus of Miami University Middletown opened in 1969 for grades 9-10-11-12. It was designed to accommodate 2,200 students. The school is in the upper part of this picture. The old Manchester Jr. High is the building on the left. The Middies football team practices on the athletic fields in front of the high school however they still play all home games at Barnitz Field. Breiel Blvd. is the 6-lane street cutting across the bottom of the picture.

(Part 1) - School Buildings that existed when the MHS Class of 1951 Graduated

Of all of the school buildings that existed in 1951, only our Middletown High School and Lincoln School have survived the wrecking ball as of end of 2010.

Manchester Junior High opened in 1961 on Manchester Rd. and Breiel Blvd. It became a Middle School in 1969 and closed in 1981. It has been used, off and on, as overflow for the adjacent Middletown High School. In 1985 it became the Manchester Technical Center as part of the Butler County Joint Vocation School system. It is now home of the MHS Success Academy for at risk students and also Adult Education

This high school became the 4th location of Middletown High School

Location No. 1 - 3rd floor of South School in 1901

Location No. 2, the first building specifically built as Middletown High School. It opened in 1909 on Central Ave. at Clark St. In 1923, it became the eighth grade school, known as Roosevelt, after a new high school was opened on Girard Ave. This building became the Middletown City Building from 1930 to 1976 when city government moved into a new building behind the Manchester Hotel on Donham Plaza. The above building was empty from 1976 to January 8, 1984 when it was severely damaged by fire and later demolished.

Location No. 3 built in 1923 on Girard Ave. which was home to the MHS Class of 1951 for 3 years.

Location No. 4 built in 1969 on N. Breiel Blvd.

C. 1951

1951 to 2005

2005 to 2010

Blue Ball School Opened in 1912 and renovated in 1930. It was closed in 1968, the property sold to a developer and the building was demolished.

Maple Park School Opened in 1912 on Illinois St at Tytus Ave. with additions made in the 20s, 30s and 50s. The school was closed in 1974 and demolished in 2003.

Monroe Elementary Opened in 1955 and closed in 2004 when a new combination Elementary, Junior High and High school was built in Yankee Rd. in Monroe. It is now the Monroe Primary school (K-2)

Lemon-Monroe High School Built as the Monroe school in 1912 serving all grade levels. Many additions were made to the original building and in 1968, the 1912, and a portion of the 1924 addition, were demolished. The elementary students moved out in 1955 when the new Monroe Elementary opened. This building was closed in 2004 when the new Elementary, Jr. High, High School opened on Yankee Rd

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Middletown Schools

Past & Present

Attributions

We are indebted to Mr. George C. Crout, local Middletown educator, author and historian, for many of the photographs contained in this history of the Middletown School District. The Middletown Public Library has the rights to the Crout collection and we thank the Library for granting the Middletown High School Class of 1951 permission to use selected photographs and related information from the Crout collection. The photographs from this collection are identified by the "Middletown, (Ohio) Public Library" notation under the picture. We are also indebted to Mr. Norman M. Hayes for dates and other information contained in his 1987 publication entitled "A Brief History of the Middletown City School District 1800 to 1987" Also, thanks to Ed Seamon for his help in reviewing and editing this presentation.

Middletown, (Ohio) Public Library

MIddletown, (Ohio) Public Library

Middletown, (Ohio) Public Library

The Monroe School District School opened in 2004. On the left is the Elementary School, in the center the Matson Learning Center and on the right the Monroe Junior and Senior High Schools. This combined school is located on Yankee Rd. north of Rt. 63 on the Matson Farm property.

(Part 3) School District Mergers and Splits

Lemon-Monroe School District & Middletown School District merged on October 10, 1954

Blue Ball Schools merged with Middletown School District in 1958

These mergers came about primarily because of economic factors. At the time of the Lemon-Monroe--MIddletown merger, Lemon Township had more than 4,000 students and growing rapidly while Middletown had more than 6,000. Lemon-Monroe essentially had no industrial tax base, only rural and residential. This area was growing much faster than was the case with Middletown City Schools and Lemon Township School District could not survive without the help Middletown's industrial tax base. Economics also drove the Blue Ball-Middletown School merger.

During the 1970s and 80s the residents of Monroe, became more and more disenchanted with the Middletown School District. A number of tax levies failed with a majority of Monroe voters supporting the levies and residents of Middletown mostly voting against them. Pressure began to build in Monroe to form a new Monroe School District and spit away from Middletown School District. In spite of the fact that this is extremely difficult to do, Monroe was successful. The community voted to split Monroe High School and Elementary School away from the Middletown School District in 1999.

This page was last updated: August 30, 2022