ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

McKinley School was built in 1903-04 at the corner of St. Mary's Avenue and Nineteenth Street, and opened its doors for the 1904-05 school year. It was named after President William McKinley, who had been assassinated in 1901. The original schoolhouse on this property was a four-room residence that had been converted into classrooms in 1893. It was later moved off the property and became a private home again. McKinley was closed down at the end of 2019.

Willard Elementary School, seen here around 1907, was built at Thirteenth and Ann Streets on the bluff above Murdock Avenue around 1901. It replaced the home of local civic leader J.C. Nash, which had been converted into a schoolhouse in 1895 and then torn down five years later. Willard was later rechristened Nash School, known to every neighborhood kid for years as "Nash, Nash, dirty old trash, throw it in the river and make a big splash." The Nash building is still standing, but it was closed down as a school in the late 1980s.

Nash School

Mrs. Boso's first-grade class at Nash School in 1950-51. The lazy boy on the left is Jim Dawson.

The Thirteenth Street School, built in 1880, sat on the southeast corner of Thirteenth & Avery. It was turned into a book repository in the late 1940s and torn down in the 1960s. Photo circa 1907.		The Garfield School, located on Avery between Fourth and Fifth Streets, was built in the 1880s, closed in 1951, and torn down a couple of years later.

Park School, on the northeast corner of Seventh and Park, in an
undated photo. The school was demolished in the early 1990s.

Park School at its opening in 1913.

Park School.

Looking down at Park Elementary in the late 1960s. It was razed in 1994.
(Photo by Harry Barnett, courtesy of Dan Kemper)

Jefferson School, seen here in 1935, is located on Plum Street.
It later became the new Washington Junior High School.

Sumner School (seen here after closing down because of the U.S. Supreme
Court's anti-segregation decision) was Parkersburg's black school for
grades one through twelve. See the SUMNER SCHOOL page.

The McGuffey's Reader was used to educate every child in Parkersburg from the late 19th century into the 1920s.