This historic one-room schoolhouse located in Fallsbury Township, Ohio finally collapsed under its own weight recently after sitting vacant since the mid-1970s. The building was well-known to many photographers as well as locals. For decades, the building continued to bend in the middle, appearing as if it would collapse at any moment. The structure held up surprisingly well; a testament to the construction at the time. The schoolhouse was built in 1900 and would serve grades one through eight for nearly half a century before it was converted to use as a private residence. One teacher would educate all of the children in Fallsbury Township that would attend. 

After all the years that this building held on, it was ultimately a storm that swept through in June that dealt the final blow. Time and the natural elements ripped away at it until it just couldn’t take anymore.  

The school was originally known as Mt. Pleasant School, according to an old pamphlet. The pamphlet also shows students attending at the time under teacher Sheldon Robertson. Only six students attended first grade, though it was more students than any other class at the schoolhouse at the time. Third and fourth grade classes were each only two students in size, while fifth, sixth and seventh grades all had four students. The eighth grade class had three students, and in second grade, the only student at the time was Verna Wright. Given that Verna was born in 1914 according to ancestry records, this pamphlet was most likely from 1921 or 1922, as she would have been seven or eight years old at the time.  

At some point near the mid-1900s, use of this small schoolhouse was no longer necessary with the construction of other schools in the area to accommodate a growing population. The former schoolhouse was eventually rented out as a home until the mid-1970s, and was last occupied by Earl Camp and his daughter, Mildred Willey. Once they left, the building was left to sit, and started its slow decay and collapse into the earth. I’m sure many could not have imagined it lasting as long as it did. I mean, the structure was abandoned right around the release of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and right about the year that the band Boston released their debut studio album, if that helps put into perspective just how long this structure sat without maintenance.  

The schoolhouse currently sits on the Varner property. Kenneth Varner was known well locally as not only a hard working farmer, but a World War II veteran who loved all types of music. Kenneth unfortunately passed away on November 13, 2021.

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