Educational Architecture in Ohio: From One-Room Schools and Carnegie Libraries to Community Education Villages (review)

The noted dictum of architecture that "form follows function" stands out as a major theme of Virginia McCormick's latest work. In the past she analyzed brilliantly the diary of an Ohio farmer's wife and brought to life the history of her town outside of Columbus, Ohio, and now she creatively explores the world of educational architecture, from school buildings and college campuses to libraries and performing arts halls. The result of her endeavors is a superb study of Ohio's monuments of learning and a model for studies in other states. This chef d'oeuvre is complemented by a multiplicity of photographs from numerous archives across Ohio as well as many taken by the author herself. During the course of this research, McCormick must have logged several thousand miles to see and experience the focus of her scholarly pursuits.

At first, this work examines the development of Ohio's school systems and their pedagogical requirements as understood in the context of contemporary educational philosophy. The one-room schoolhouse was the appropriate venue at first, especially in rural areas. Noticeably, she does not focus primarily on the big cities but tries to sample all demographic aspects of the state, from the large communities like Cincinnati to the minuscule like Ragersville in Tuscarawas County. It is noteworthy that on the eve of World War I, Ohio boasted some 10,000 one-room schoolhouses out of the 212,000 extant in the nation. In each example, the reader is treated to the nature of the region and the style of school building that the community decided would respond to its educational needs. Also, increasingly over the nineteenth century and beyond, the state Board of Education set guidelines for design of the buildings and their infrastructure. Not only in the text but also in the illustrations McCormick demonstrates that these required changes, as well as pedagogical philosophies, continued to evolve. Also apparent was the close relationship that these structures usually had with the current architectural styles, from Greek Revival, so common in the first half of the nineteenth century, to later Victorian overtones and Richardsonian Romanesque formats later in the century. The twentieth century would, of course, reflect its modernistic concepts and differing views on education. Noticeable is the increased size of the schools, especially in the urban areas. Among them are Canton's McKinley High School, which could accommodate several thousand students, and a latter-day version of an "academic village" at New Albany.

Any treatment of education in Ohio also necessitates an examination of its colleges and universities. Boasting the first state institution of higher learning west of the Appalachians, Ohio became fertile ground for the growth of colleges. Both the state-supported and private would prosper. McCormick could not in 318 pages examine all of them, but she did make a superb effort to find the most exemplary. From Ohio University to Miami University to Kent State University, she found good examples of differing styles and approaches to higher education. In the realm of private schools, where Ohio has a grand tradition, she pointed to many of its notable colleges like Wooster, Kenyon, and Western Reserve. These and others provided not only a remarkable architectural experience but a pedagogical one as well.

McCormick's conception of "educational architecture" also included libraries and opera (or cultural arts) halls. Lending libraries with private subscription did exist throughout most of the nineteenth century, but the public variety did not. Only in the postbellum United States did many communities, especially the larger ones, tie in with the national movement of creating libraries with free access for its citizenry. However, the most notable aspect of this evolution was the crusade of industrialist Andrew Carnegie to build public libraries across the United...