Hooked on History: Residents share their memories of school building in Mineral City

The school building in Mineral City has faithfully served the community for 87 years, and now the time has come for it to be retired.

The Tuscarawas Valley Local School District, which operates it as the Tusky Valley Primary School, will be closing it at the end of this school year. The district will open a new pre-kindergarten through sixth grade elementary school at its campus on Tusky Valley Road in Zoarville.

A closing ceremony is planned for 2 p.m. May 5 in the Tusky Valley Primary School gymnasium. The program will pay tribute to the facility and will feature special speakers, students and a chance to walk through the halls and visit classrooms in its last month as an operating school.

"I always liked the building," said Helen Archinal Shonk, who attended school there for 11 years beginning in 1944. "The grades were on the first floor, and when you got to the seventh grade, you went upstairs."

Added Murvel Burton, who attended there at the same time, "The one thing you can remember about a small school is, you knew everybody in school and every family."

Present school opened in 1937

Mineral City has had a school building since 1859, according to "The History of the Schools in Tuscarawas County, Ohio." A second building was built in 1878 and added onto frequently as the community grew. But by the 1930s, the structure was no longer adequate for the village.

In 1935, Mineral City passed a $36,000 ($815,000 in 2024 dollars) bond issue to build a modern building, with 95% of residents voting in favor. There was also $24,000 in state aid available.

The finished building opened to students on Jan. 11, 1937. It had 14 classrooms, a reception room and an office. The commercial room had three typewriters for students, and a science room was furnished with three laboratory tables. It had a staff of 12 teachers, a music instructor and a superintendent.

However, it did not have a gymnasium. That building was located down the street across from the old school. It was used for Mineral City Tigers basketball games and school events until a multi-purpose room was added to the school in the 1970s.

Memories of the building

"We lived on Grant Street, and there were six of us," Shonk said. "We always walked to school and home at lunchtime. I loved that school."

Marlene Burton, Murvel's wife, began attending school there in 1948 as a first grader. She remembers her teacher then, Madge Dolly.

"The first day of school I was all excited to get to go to school," she recalled. "I run into the first-grade class, and there was a bunch of girls over there playing around. So, I ran right up into them. One little girl put her hand on her hips, and she said, 'We don't want to play with you. You're poor.' So, Mrs. Dolly came up. The little girl that did that was from some family in town that was always up and up and had a business. So, Mrs. Dolly wanted to make good with them. She said, 'Come with me, Marlene.' She took me to the last row of the seats and sat me down. That's where I sat all year. That was my first memory of school in Mineral City."

But Marlene Burton added, "She (Dolly) was a good teacher. I learned a lot from her."

A feared superintendent

Murvel Burton recalled that everyone at school was afraid of the superintendent at that time, Joseph Zack, because he was a disciplinarian. "He'd pick your head off the wall," he said. But he added that when Zack was in charge of the school, the band, athletics, everything was top grade.

Zack served as superintendent from 1936 to 1949. A graduate of Ohio University, he became a teacher and coach at Mineral City in 1934. He served as superintendent in Midvale from 1949 to 1960 and finished his career in North Ridgeville, Ohio, before retiring in 1969.

When Zack left Midvale, Don Wagner, a sportswriter for the New Philadelphia Daily Times, wrote, "An outspoken man, dedicated to excellence, one must be honest with himself and salute a man of distinction who has devoted nearly a quarter of a century toward raising the standards of athletics."

Zack died in 1998.

Shonk and Murvel Burton were members of the first graduating class of Tuscarawas Valley High School in 1957. The Tusky Valley District was formed in 1956 when the local boards of education in Fairfield, Warren, Sandy and Lawrence townships voted to consolidate.

Shonk has the distinction of being the first Tusky Valley graduate to receive a diploma, because her maiden name, Archinal, put her at the top of the list alphabetically. She received her diploma from her father, Arlo Archinal, who was a member of the Tusky Valley School Board. He had previously served on the Mineral City School Board.

Historical society museum

Shonk and Murvel and Marlene Burton are all active in the Mineral City Area Historical Society, which operates a museum at 8726 N. High St., Mineral City. The museum has a collection of graduation photos, yearbooks with some dating back to 1914, and other memorabilia, including a Mineral City Tigers school jacket. There is also information on Tuscarawas Valley Schools.

The museum is open by appointment. Shonk is also there every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The group can be found on Facebook.

Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: In its final year, residents share memories of Mineral City school