Dawson Bryant Schools

Dawson Bryant High School
Dawson Bryant High School

     In 1850, the first school built in Coal Grove was opened. The school had only one room. Joseph Burk was the teacher. Eventually, the school expanded to four rooms… two rooms on the first floor and two rooms on the second floor. Because of its color, the school was given the name “Little Red School House.” Unfortunately, the school was destroyed by fire in 1905.
     The Little Red School House was replaced by the Monitor School. Built in 1905, the building cost $24,000 and was built across from the home of R.C. Porter (now known as Pike Street). The school’s name came from the Iron Furnace, Monitor Furnace, located near the end of Pike Street. The furnace, also, shared its name with the village known today as Coal Grove. The land surrounding the school was known as the “Red School Grounds.” Monitor School continued to be a place of education until 1931. In 1940, the building caught on fire and received $50,000 worth of damages. The building was restored. 
     When Monitor School closed, the students were moved to a new high school. After World War II, the school districts were reformed. Coal Grove schools and rural elementaries in Perry, Lawrence, and Fayette Townships were consolidated into the Dawson-Bryant School District.
     In 1953, Dawson-Bryant School built a new brick elementary school at Deering. Because of the new building, the school board decided to sell five abandoned elementary schools and keep one for a historical landmark. The money from the sale was used to build an athletic field on the west end of the high school. Rock Camp in Perry Township, Forest Dale (the newest and largest property at the time), Webbtown, Ice Creek, and Rankins Creek in Fayette Township. A one-roomed wood building at Deering was kept as a historical landmark, since it was one the first schools built in the Coal Grove Area.