The first building erected as a public school by the Wood County Board of Education was located at the corner of Ninth (then known as Elizabeth) and Juliana streets and was called Franklin. The school was a one-story three-room frame structure and was used for primary grades. It was used from 1865 until 1876. The building was moved to another lot on Ninth Street and used as a home. The original school lot was used as the site of another school (known also as Franklin).
Image Date: 1890's
The second Franklin School, built on the same lot as the first Franklin and facing Juliana Street, was a two-story two-room brick (36' x 65') that was ready for use in October 1876. The building's layout has been described as having one hallway that ran the full length of the structure with a room on each side. Each room had two doors which opened into the hall. It was originally used for primary grades, but later also included grammar grades. The school was totally destroyed by fire on the early hours of December 7, 1905.
The second building erected by the Wood County Board of Education was located at the corner of Seventh (then known as Pike) and Green streets and was called Washington High and Grammar School (also known as Pike Street School). The construction of this two-story four-room brick began in the fall of 1866 and was completed in April 1867. It had a capacity of 250 students. The first floor was for primary and intermediate students, and the second for high school students. It wasn't until June 1874 that the school had its first high school graduating class. It was reportedly the first high school graduating class in the state of West Virginia. This building was used until 1890, at which time it was demolished.
After Washington High and Grammar School was demolished in 1890, its lot (on the corner of Seventh and Green streets) was used for the construction of Parkersburg High School - which was dedicated on September 10, 1891. When the new Parkersburg High School building on Dudley Avenue was completed, this building became Washington Jr. High School. The Wood County Board of Education sold the building on October 19, 1963, to Uptowner Inn (hotel). It was demolished in 1964.
An undated photo of a class posing in front of Parkersburg High School.
Image Date: ca. 1907
Image Source: 1907 Parkersburg City Directory
The third building erected by the Board of Education as a public school was Jefferson, at the corner of Latrobe and Grafton streets. It replaced a small rented frame building at the corner of Latrobe and Pike. The 28' x 56' two-story brick building, built in 1869, originated with four rooms. In 1873/1874 two additional rooms were added. Four more rooms were added in 1888 for a total of 10 rooms. It appears that it was used until the mid 1920s.
Photo taken for the 1907 Parkersburg City Directory.
Image Date: ca. 1907
Thirteenth Street School, also known as Wells Street School and Avery Street School, was constructed in 1880 on the corner of 13th (then known as Wells) and Avery streets. Previously, the educational needs of this neighborhood were first serviced by a rented home in Wells Circle, and secondly by a 28' x 40' framed two-story dwelling built in 1872 or 1873. Thirteenth Street School was a two-story four-room brick structure. By the 1940s the school building was being used as a book depository and from 1967 it was leased to Winans Sanitary Supply. The Wood County Board of Education sold the property in 1970. A 7-11 convenience store currently occupies this corner.
Photo taken for the 1907 Parkersburg City Directory.
Image Date: ca. 1907
Garfield School, located on Avery Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, was completed in 1883. It was a two-story six-room brick school with "comfortable cloak rooms and wide halls." The Board of Education sold the building to the City of Parkersburg on Aug. 5, 1952. The building was demolished in the same decade.
Photo taken for the 1907 Parkersburg City Directory.
Image Source: Wood County Board of Education
Image Date: April 1950
To the right of the school is Wiant and Barr Hardware and, to the left, the old Union Mission. Richard Hale is in front of the school on the steps.
The first Park School was a two-story four-room frame house owned by Charles Amos Wade, that, in 1893, was remodeled and used for school purposes. It was located on a large lot at the corner of 19th Street and St. Marys Avenue (the property where the present-day McKinley School stands). In ca. 1904 the building was relocated to Beaver Street to allow for the construction of a new school (McKinley) on the same lot. In 1965, the old Park School building, then a home on Beaver Street, was destroyed by a fire. (Note: McKinley school was originally to be named "Park School".)
In September of 1911, a new 12-room brick school opened at the corner of Seventh Street and Park Avenue named Park School. It served the neighborhood until the end of the 1992-93 school year. In the fall of 1993, Park School students went to the newly remodeled Jefferson Center. The building was demolished in December 1994 and is now the site of a Wendy's Restaurant and a CVS Drug Store.
In 1895, the residence of John C. Nash, located on the corner of 13th and Ann streets, was purchased and remodeled into a two-room school building. Mr. Nash was an educator and had previously operated a private school. In 1899, a new 90' x 95' ten-room brick school replaced the old two-room dwelling and was named Nash in honor of John C. Nash. On the evening of December 11, 1902, a devastating fire, attributed to a gas leak, gutted the building, leaving only the outside walls. The school was rebuilt and opened for the 1903-1904 school year as Willard School - named after Mrs. Frances E. Willard, a leading figure in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement. In 1909 the school’s name was changed back to Nash. The school closed at the end of the 1989/1990 school year with the students reassigned to Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, and McKinley schools. The old school building is now occupied by the Mid Ohio Valley Ballet Company.
Image Date: ca. 1907
McKinley School is the oldest public school building still in operation. It opened in 1905 in the Elberon section of Parkersburg at the corner of Gould Street (now 19th Street) and St. Marys Avenue.
Several schools that today would be within Parkersburg city limits were, in their time, considered out of town. One such school, Sand Plains, was built in 1880 along Bull Creek Road (now Emerson Avenue). At some time a large addition was added to the rear of the building and the name was changed to Emerson. In the 1960s the building was used as a branch location of West Virginia University. In 1973 the old school building was demolished and the new Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library was built on the property.
Old Emerson School (created by adding a large addition to the rear of the old Sand Plains School building). Photo courtesy of the Wood County Board of Education.
