1905: After 10 years of public interest and meetings about improvements in area school facilities, a Violet Township Board of Education was created in January 1905.

During this time eighth-grade graduates from Pickerington-Violet Township one-room schools who wanted to attend high school had to go to a neighboring community.

The new school board, shown in this 1907 photo, included: front row from left, John Talbot, principal and long-time Violet Township teacher; William Ackers, appointed Violet Township School Superintendent in 1907; and back row from left, John Peters; Gus M. Alexander, photographer of most of Pickerington’s early photos; Allen Courtright and W.W. Milnor, both prominent Pickerington farmers/landowners.

This new, progressive school board quickly changed the Pickerington-Violet Township education system.

They obtained a high school charter from the Ohio school commissioner, created an acceptable method for building financing and in February 1907 contracted to build a $15,000, six-room brick school on East Street in Pickerington.

Because of a wet summer which slowed construction, the new Violet Township School, housing grades 1-12, opened Oct. 27, 1907.

NOW: The 1907 Violet Township School still stands on East Street as part of Heritage Elementary School.

For many years Allen Courtright served as president of the Violet Township Board of Education.

He and his wife, Emma Harmon Courtright, owned approximately 300 acres which now encompass the Cherry Hill, Pickerington Run and Melrose subdivisions.

Allen Courtright died in 1931. The Courtright farmhouse and barn still stand on state Route 256 and can be seen in this photo.
The property currently is owned by David and Paula Eva
ns and houses the Embroidery Barn.

To explore and discover more information about people and places of our community’s early days, visit the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society Museum, 15 E. Columbus St.

Admission to the museum is free each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Information about the museum can be found online at pickeringtonhistoricalsociety.com.

Contributions and questions about Then and Now stories can be sent via email to the series’ creator, Maggie Arendt, at pickhistsociety@hotmail.com.