THE 9 ELYRIA HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS ON 6TH STREET – IMPORTANT DATES

1850 Elyria residents voted to consolidate the 2 primary school districts together with Heman Ely’s High School (which had been chartered in 1830; opened 1831) to form the Elyria Union School District, with just one board of education
1855 The Elyria Union School Board bought all the land along the north side of 6th Street between Middle and West Avenues for $2,000

1856-57 The 3-story brick UNION SCHOOL was built on the north side of 6th Street, in the middle of the block between Middle & West Avenues – with grammar & secondary classes on the first two floors; and high school on the third floor

1863 The first class of 3 students graduated from the Union School

1867 The new Elyria Town Hall was built on Court Street; where Elyria High School graduations took place for several years afterward

1868 A two-story wing was added to the west side of the Union School

1875 A 4-room elementary school (called the “LITTLE MIDDLE BUILDING” or “Little Union School”) was built on 6th Street to the west of Union School

1883 The WEST AVENUE SCHOOL (later called the Franklin Building) was built on the NE corner of 6th Street and West Ave., for classes of various grades

May 1893 A fire destroyed much of the 10-year-old West Avenue School, but it was immediately rebuilt (without the tower?), containing 13 classrooms

1894 The WASHINGTON BUILDING (as it was later called) was built on the NW corner of 6th Street and Middle Ave. (east of the Union School) using sandstone from the Mussey Quarry near 15th Street (Mussey Ave.) and West River St.

1894 After the Washington Building opened, the Union School was razed

1905 The original LINCOLN BUILDING (as it was later called) was built on the site of the old Union School, west of (and later connected to) the Washington Building

1907 The old West Avenue School and the newer 1894 and 1905 high school buildings were first officially named the FRANKLIN BUILDING (later renamed Franklin Elementary School), WASHINGTON BUILDING, and LINCOLN BUILDING

1913 The old 4-room elementary school building (the Little Middle Building or Little Union School), built in 1875 west of the Union School, was razed and replaced by the new Technical Building

1913-14 The new TECHNICAL BUILDING was constructed between the Franklin Building and the Lincoln Building, on the former site of the old 4-room elementary school building (Little Middle Building or Little Union School)

1921 A new Power Plant building was built, on the north side of the Lincoln Building

1922 A West Wing was added to the Technical Building, containing a gym, science labs, and a cafeteria

1923 The Washington Building was renovated

1929 A 3rd story was added to the East Wing of the 15-year-old Technical Building; and the Lincoln Building was expanded

1953 The Franklin Elementary School building (formerly West Avenue School and the Franklin Building) was razed, to be replaced by the new EHS Gymnasium (and a new Franklin Elementary School built on 11th Street near West Ave.)

1954 The 1905 Lincoln Building was razed and replaced with a new red brick school building, also named the LINCOLN BUILDING, connected to the Washington Building

1955-56 The new GYMNASIUM and Auditorium was built on the NE corner of 6th Street and West Avenue, the site of the old Franklin Building/Franklin Elementary School

May 2007 Elyria voters passed a bond issue on the 3rd attempt, to build a new high school complex between Middle & West Avenues, from 5th to 7th Streets

2010 The Lincoln Building, Technical Building, Power Plant building and the Gymnasium/Auditorium, plus all the homes remaining on the south side of 5th Street were razed to clear land for the new Elyria High School complex, and the 116-year-old Washington Building was completely renovated by 2011 – with the new EHS complex opening for the 2011-12 school year