Great Western Schoolhouse
Why it's listed
Beside the Old National Road west of St. Clairsville, this one-room brick schoolhouse was built in 1870 on land donated by Simon Lentz, a German stonemason who ran a nearby hotel. It sits on a rough sandstone foundation with a chiselled stone belt course, a slate gable roof, and a small belfry. Round-arched windows with nine-over-nine sashes and a central doorway set in round blind arches give the front a distinctive look. Inside are tongue-in-groove floors, wainscoting, and an elaborate tin ceiling. The school replaced a log school of 1835 across the road and served a planned village called Great Western that never developed. Richland Township had 18 substantial brick schools by 1880, 16 of them built in the 1870s, and this is the only one left. It taught pupils until 1952, later stood abandoned, and was restored as a museum by a local club.
Significance in brief: The nomination calls it an architecturally unique and well-designed one-room schoolhouse for Ohio and representative of the county's 19th-century public education system. It is the only survivor of 16 brick schools built in Richland Township in the 1870s and remains almost completely intact.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 79001787, listed May 7, 1979. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | W of St. Clairsville on U.S. 40, St. Clairsville |
|---|---|
| County | Belmont County |
| Listed | May 7, 1979 |
| Reference number | 79001787 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899 (specific date 1870) |
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Used as a classroom until 1952, then by a coon hunters club, later abandoned, then restored and reopened as a museum. Condition listed as good, unaltered, original site. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 40.07289, -80.98105 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 79001787.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5600217
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.