Event to feature a history of elementary school

RAILROADS and horse-drawn wagons no longer haul lumber to build a small, rural school in Belmont County, but that wasn’t the case in the 1920s when these were utilized when the Kinsman School was constructed between Maynard and Fairpoint in Wheeling Township.

In conjunction with the Kinsman Schoolmates Reunion scheduled in July, a history of the small elementary school and about past reunions has been compiled.

Construction of the school building began in 1922, and lumber from railroad boxcars at Blainsville was loaded into wagons and hauled to the school site. The school opened for the 1925-26 year, and at that time, only the front two rooms were completed. Those two rooms were for the upper grades.

Lumber was piled in the hallway while construction was underway. Walter Telfer worked with a group which came from Bergholz, boarded in Harrisville and helped to build the rural school in Wheeling Township as well as several other schools in the area.

In the 1927-28 school year, grades at the Kinsman School were fourth through eighth.

More students were added by the 1933-34 school year when schools in Midway, Blainsville and Wheeling Valley closed with their grade school youngsters then transferred to Kinsman.

Classes continued through the years until it was decided in the mid-1950s to close the school which had served many students in that part of Belmont County.

“The decision to close Kinsman School following the 1954-55 school year was not well-received by the folks of the community,” reported Nancy Gillogly, reunion committee member. “The school building was only a little over 30 years old, but the school closed and the building was torn down.”

She added that the school closed 60 years ago and with the passing of time and so many changes this year, the committee is giving serious thought once again that the the July 26 reunion will be the final one. Many former students have relocated this year and so far, the committee has located most of them but many have died.

The first Kinsman School Reunion was held in July 1998 at the Maynard ballfields shelter after the ideas for the gatherings surfaced at the St. Clairsville High School Alumni Day Picnic held the previous year. Attending were 185 persons.

At that time, there were 380 names on the committee’s list – today, there are 139.

Attending the second reunion in 2000 were 160 individuals with 84 of them being former students.

The number decreased to 121 in 2002, and 65 were former students. Fifty-two former students were present in 2004 when attendees totaled 98.

Plans were made for the fifth and final reunion to be held in 2005. Attending were some 158 individuals, including 79 former students.

Gillogly noted that three years later, many persons still wanted another reunion so in 2008, the sixth one was held in July at the Mayanrd ballfields shelter.

A decision was reached to have the schoolmates gather every year. The reunion was moved to the Polish National Alliance Shelter in Maynard in 2009, and it has been held in that location every year since.

Some 85 persons, including 48 former studuents, attended in 2009 while the 2010 attendance dropped to 75, including 41 former students.

An innovation developed for the 2011 reunion wtith donations collected for the St. Clairsville Council of Churches Food Pantry, and this support has continued. Reunions continued in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The oldest person attending the 2014 reunion was 97-year-old Martha Surowka Nagy, a Wheeling resident who attended Kinsman for all eight grades. Coming the farthest distance was John Wodarcyk Jr. of Houston, Texas.

Reporting on this year’s reunion, Gillogly noted, “Another day of making ‘precious memories’ awaits.”