Indianola Junior High School is a historic school building located on 19th Avenue in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
. The building opened in 1929 after the school moved out of its
previous location on 16th Avenue. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980.
The school, founded at its previous location in 1909, was the first
junior high school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...
in the United States.
Organization and history
Early history
In the early 1900s, there was support for marking more of a transition from elementary to secondary education.
The Indianola school was the first school to be designed as a separate junior high school, incorporating what was then the last two years of elementary school with the first years of high school.
The school was organized in 1909 by the Board of Education of Columbus, Ohio, and Superintendent J.A. Shawan. The first principal of Indianola Junior High School was C. H. Fullerton, and the school included students from the Medary, Northwood, and Eight Avenue Schools.
Curriculum was designed by Shawan and Ohio State University President
William Oxley Thompson
William Oxley Thompson, D.D. (November 5, 1855 – December 9, 1933) was the fifth President of The Ohio State University.
Biography
Thompson was born in Cambridge, Ohio to David Glenn Thompson and Agnes Miranda Oxley. Thompson was educate ...
and intended to fight the 8th grade dropout rate which was the time that many children left school to begin working and resulting in a 7% graduation rate in the city from high school.
New location, 1929
In 1929, the school moved to its present location at 420 E. 19th Ave.
The building was designed by Ohio State University architect
Howard Dwight Smith
Howard Dwight Smith (February 21, 1886 – April 27, 1958) was an architect most known for his designs of Ohio Stadium (completed in 1922) for which he was awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Public Building Design.
...
who also designed
Ohio Stadium
Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...
. Dr. Erwin Frey, who also sculpted the statue of Dr.
William Oxley Thompson
William Oxley Thompson, D.D. (November 5, 1855 – December 9, 1933) was the fifth President of The Ohio State University.
Biography
Thompson was born in Cambridge, Ohio to David Glenn Thompson and Agnes Miranda Oxley. Thompson was educate ...
which stands outside Ohio State University's Thompson Library, was responsible for the sculpture on the building.
In recognition of
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
,'s role in the early junior high school movement (and the Indianola school's in particular), a tablet was incorporated into the structure of the Indianola Junior High School building which reads:
![Indianaola Middle School Plaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Indianaola_Middle_School_Plaque.jpg)
''Primus''
''Indianola''
''Junior High School''
''organized in September 1909 at Six-''
''teenth and Indianola Avenues''
''First of its''
''kind in these United States''
''was reorganized in this building''
''September 1929.''
Graham Elementary and Middle School
Until spring 2007 the building housed the Indianola Alternative Elementary School when students moved to the old Everett Junior High. The building remained vacant until the Graham Expeditionary Middle School opened in 2010.
Metro Schools
In 2018,
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
purchased the property for $2.35 million in order to save and preserve. In 2021, a local
STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
-focused
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...
,
The Metro Schools, began planning a move to the building as part of a larger expansion through a partnership with OSU and
Battelle. Metro Schools plans to occupy the building in 2025 to expand its school population. The renovations of the building will cost $34 million.
Architecture
Constructed of buff-colored stretcher bond brick, the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-inspired three-story junior high school features 18 bay walls with light recessed windows and balconies. The building has decorative ornamentation on its facade including a carving of a buffalo head along with carved tiles of animals above the entrance, a Native American chief bas sculpture above the third floor, and terracotta urns, among others.
As of 1980, the interiors incorporated various elements of the original building on 16th Avenue, including oak woodwork and wainscoting. A wood-burning fireplace, ornamental plaster, and arched leaded glass on bookcases were also in place.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbus, Ohio
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places entries in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The National Register is a federal register for buildings, structures, and sites of historic significance. This is intended to be a compl ...
*
Schools in Columbus, Ohio
This is a list of public school buildings in Columbus, Ohio, of historical or architectural importance to the Columbus Public School District. Items are listed by opening date.https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/ccs/i ...
References
External links
*
{{Columbus Register of Historic Properties
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Schools in Columbus, Ohio
Public middle schools in Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Register properties
Columbus City Schools