Newbury Township Hall has been undergoing renovations to ready the historic building for the township’s 200th birthday celebration this summer.
Newbury Township Hall has been undergoing renovations to ready the historic building for the township’s 200th birthday celebration this summer.
As township Zoning Inspector Mike Joyce cleaned out an old cabinet recently, he uncovered a 50-year-old piece of Newbury history — a township flag that had been hand-sewn by Newbury Elementary School fourth-graders.
“Mike found this in a cabinet,” Trustee Jan Blair said April 5. “It was so neat to find this after being buried for 40-plus years.”
The flag, carefully wrapped in plastic, is identical to a faded township flag that has been on display next to the American flag in the township hall for as long as anyone can remember. Joyce also found clippings from the Geauga Times Leader dated June 16, 1965, describing how the flag came to be.
“There are so many names of people we recognize in here,” Blair said. “It’s pretty amazing to see how many of them are still in Newbury.”
According to the article, the school held a contest to design an official township flag in 1965, under the direction of high school government teacher Roger Casseday and fourth-grade teacher Rosemary Blackington.
Seventy students entered the contest, which was judged by prominent citizens Harold Arndt and W.O. Frohring, Newbury Schools Board of Education President John Lockhart, Newbury Township Trustee Henry Povolny and Newbury Elementary School Principal E. Tom Boytar.
The article listed five winners: Robert Crotty, Linda Phillips and Diane Welch (fourth grade); and Charlene Powell and Bobby Blair (sixth grade).
The article was not clear on how the final flag design was determined from the five winning entries, but the pennant shape honored the flag of the State of Ohio, the light blue background represented the sky and lakes, the five stars symbolized Newbury’s status as the fifth township organized in Geauga County; the gold star represented Newbury; and the orange-and-black “N” honored the responsibility of citizens to transmit wisdom and knowledge to each succeeding generation.
Two identical flags were created — one made by machine, the other hand-sewn by students under the supervision of their teacher.
Students who took part in the project were Barbara Anderson, Susan Bottger, Terry Casseday, Lindy Colvin, Randy Cottrill, Robert Crotty, Richard Crow, Dennis Dingle, Jack Evans, Jeffrey Ferguson, Brian Frohring, Connie Hadlock, Elise Hink, Steven Johnson, Ronald Decatur, Jackie Katanik, Timmy Kleve, Amiee Kravcisin, Dale Lewis, Lenora Likins, Linda Phillips, Chris Powell, Jodi Rauch, Wanda Sabo, Linda Spryszak, Christopher Tausz, Cheryl Teague, Marianne Teichman, Diann Uminski, Dianne Volin, and Diane Welch.
“We need to hang this or frame it,” Blair said, adding that finding it was perfect timing because of the township’s scheduled bicentennial celebration this summer.
The township has spent about $122,500 of their $200,000 capital improvements budget on renovations to the town hall, including painting, updated lighting, new basement flooring and upgrades to the handicapped ramp.
Blair said most of the remainder will be used for cemetery repairs. She said she hopes all the renovations will be completed in time for the bicentennial.
