When Newbury Schools closed its doors for the final time in 2020, decades worth of memorabilia were left in limbo.
When Newbury Schools closed its doors for the final time in 2020, decades worth of memorabilia were left in limbo.
Following a combined effort between Newbury residents and West Geauga Schools, these artifacts have been recovered and given a new home and life at Century Village Museum in Burton.
Recovering the Memorabilia
Learning the history of Newbury Schools is what originally sparked Newbury resident Karen Hale’s interest in tracking down the missing memorabilia.
The Century Village education department head discovered the school district began as a group of nine single room schoolhouses — one of them remains intact today and was relocated to Century Village for preservation and education.
When Newbury Schools were absorbed by neighboring West Geauga Schools in 2020, memorabilia was auctioned off. What remained was put into storage by West Geauga and the school buildings were later torn down.
Fellow resident and CV volunteer Linda Retych described the school closure as having left a hole in the community.
“People want to have a piece of their roots and Century Village is a part of preserving history,” she said. “It was really Karen’s idea to (look into) what happened to (the memorabilia) and going after that to bring it, to preserve it, so that people in the community know it’s somewhere that they can come and visit.”
It took over a month to track down the items, Hale said, adding it was only after contacting former Newbury Township Fiscal Officer David Lair she discovered they were housed at West Geauga.
“We had talked to Mark Richardson and Sara Healey over at West Geauga. Sara’s the … communications director and Mark Richardson is the facilities manager. They had stored what was left after the auctions,” Hale said.
Among the items recovered were a number of Newbury High School senior class photos.
“Everybody was very concerned about the Black Knights, the mascots,” Hale said. “They’re two metal sculptures, and one of them was always in the cafeteria/gymnasium and the kids would sit around it and they would eat their lunches.”
Both knight sculptures were recovered, as were records, band uniforms, majorette uniforms and a number of awards and trophies, as well as a cornerstone plaque from when the school was first laid and almost every yearbook.
Retych and Hale both reiterated everyone they interacted with had been polite, and any issues were only caused by miscommunication. She expressed her gratitude to West Geauga for working with the group.
“They were just as enthusiastic, I think,” said Bobbie Nichols, who recently resigned as Geauga County Historical Society president.
Looking to the future, Hale expressed interest in preserving the artifacts of other districts across the county in similar situations, though there are no plans set at this time.
“We want to be able to preserve the history of it and the identity of it, so we’re thrilled to be able to do that,” Retych added. “CV is, we’re all about preserving history, because if it’s not documented one way or another, it’s going to be forgotten.”
While the history of Newbury Schools is more recent, it’s still a part of Geauga County’s history, she said.
The mementos were transferred March 28, with volunteers from both CV and West Geauga meeting at the museum to unload a trailer full of items ranging from contemporary to antique.
Educating at Century Village
Newbury’s historic one-room schoolhouse is utilized frequently by CV, Hale said.
“(In) the school building we have at CV, we have an original set of McGuffey Readers. The kids look at them and the first thing they say is, ‘There’s no pictures,’” Hale said. “There are sketches, but there weren’t photographs back then that you would put in a book. (The kids see) slate boards and how we had to make our own ink, all that stuff, we did here.”
She is hopeful the village will be able to host school reunions or championships.
The new memorabilia will be logged, assessed, cleaned and stored before being displayed on a rotating basis. It will likely be eight months to a year before the items are viewable by the public, Nichols said.
“We’re trying to find a location for it right now that would be appropriate,” she said.
CV is a nonprofit working to preserve history within Geauga County and educate both children and adults about pioneer life in the Western Reserve. The living history museum hosts both a civil war reenactment and pioneer camp, as well as a maple museum, and offers both school and private tours. Nichols described it as a “resting home for old buildings.”
“Our mission is to protect all of these artifacts from the 18th century,” she said. “All the homes and buildings are staged, maybe not perfectly, but they’re staged with what we have.”
Among CV’s buildings are the cabin of Thomas and Lydia Umberfield, the first family to move to Burton, as well as the first permanent structure, a brick house.
Also present on the premises are a general store, a band stand and a church, as well as an archival library.
“In all, we have about 23 buildings,” Nichols said.
For Retych, it was hearing the stories of the pioneers that got her truly invested in the museum’s mission. She summarized their goal succinctly.
“If these stories are not passed on, who’s going to do it?” she asked.
