The Kenmore Historical Society is on track to soon own its first property, the original Lawndale Schoolhouse at 1208 W. Wilbeth Road in Kenmore.
The group has been working with the Summit County Land Bank since last year to acquire the property, which has been abandoned and tax delinquent for more than 10 years.
Built in 1896, the one-room, wooden frame building was named after the nearby Lawndale Park Allotment. The school was originally part of Coventry Township and its school district but later became part of Kenmore in the early 20th century, according to Akron Public Schools’ 1999 reprint of “What’s in a name? Origins of names for the Akron Public Schools.”
A Nov. 25, 1911, Akron Beacon Journal article listed Flora Grimm as the Lawndale Schoolhouse teacher. It’s not clear how long Grimm taught at the school. Her obituary from May 19, 1945, in the Akron Beacon Journal said she was a teacher in various Akron schools for more than 36 years.
Kenmore was intended to be a pastoral residential area between the industrial cities of Akron and Barberton, with a streetcar connecting the two communities. Kenmore’s population boomed soon after the town was founded in 1901. Residents later voted to incorporate Kenmore into a village in 1908.
Population growth also meant an increase in student enrollment. At the end of the 1910-1911 school year, there were 271 pupils attending Kenmore schools, which included Lawndale Schoolhouse and another four-room school building. During the fall of the following school year, there were 411 students enrolled — a nearly 52% increase.
The village of Kenmore needed more space to accommodate its growing number of students. A new Lawndale School was built in 1912 and opened the following year. The four-room brick school was located on Beck Avenue (now 25th Street Southwest), just around the corner from the original Lawndale Schoolhouse.
It served as one of Kenmore’s elementary schools for more than 100 years until Akron Public Schools closed it in 2016 due to declining enrollment. The building was sold in 2019, caught fire in January 2022 and was then razed shortly after the fire.
Original Lawndale Schoolhouse becomes a residence, church
After the new Lawndale School opened, the Kenmore Board of Education sold the original Lawndale Schoolhouse at auction in April of 1913, according to a notice of sale that was posted in the Akron Beacon Journal on March 15, 1913.
The former schoolhouse then became a residence and later a church. A tax map shows that the Ohio Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists purchased the property in 1947. More than 50 years later, in 2000, True Light Baptist Church purchased the former school.
The building has been abandoned since 2014, when the Baptist church closed. The pastor died, and the property became tax delinquent, said Sean Blake, president of the Kenmore Historical Society.
The former schoolhouse was included in Preservation Ohio’s 2024 List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites. The organization noted that Lawndale Schoolhouse is one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the area.
Kenmore Historical Society working to buy the building
Blake said the historical society first became aware of the property last year via social media. Ashley Martinez, a historic preservationist who runs the Facebook and Instagram pages Naturaclaimed, had posted about the schoolhouse and its history.
Since then, the historical society has been working with the Summit County Land Bank to acquire the property.
In July, the historical society formed a Lawndale Schoolhouse committee. At least a dozen people have joined the committee to maintain the property and determine a plan of action for it.
The Summit County Land Bank obtained the property in November from True Light Baptist Church. If all goes well, the historical society will purchase the former schoolhouse at the end of February.
The schoolhouse committee met on Jan. 22 to discuss its next steps, including fundraising to purchase and restore the property and hiring an architect who specializes in historic preservation to create a plan for the building.
“We have a great committee and we’re going to accomplish a lot, but I’m smart enough to know we will need outside help,” Blake said.
Despite all of the work that will be needed to restore the schoolhouse, he said the committee feels optimistic and happy about being able to preserve a historic building.
“We want to save it.”
Additional information resources
Akron Beacon Journal articles, accessed via newspapers.com.
Summit County Fiscal Office online property database.