side A
One room schools were commonly named for people
who furnished land for the building. Michael
Bridenbaugh (1820- 1895), who settled in Riley
Township in 1835, and wife Jemima (1834- 1903)
sold a half-acre of land to the Riley Township
school board in 1873. The first school on the site
was a wooden structure, built in 1878. It was
replaced by a brick building in 1889. The school
operated until 1927, after which the district
was consolidated. Students attended classes in
nearby Pandora.
Side B
The Bridenbaugh family purchased the building and,
like other former one- room schools, used it for storage.
Unlike others, which eventually fell into disuse again
and were razed, the Bridenbaughs restored their
school, beginning in 1995. It opened in August 1997
with a reunion of its last teacher Mildred George
(1907- 1997) and some of her former students. The restoration received an Award of Merit from Ohio State
Historical Preservation Office in 2000. The school was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places in
2005 as a well- preserved example of a typical one- room
school of the rural Midwest.
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