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Kenston schools built on Howard family land
(by Joan Demirjian - November 02, 2011)
Kenston schools built on Howard family land
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
Kenston schools are built on land the school district might never have had if it were not for the Howard family.
The new high school, the former high school building, now the middle school, and Timmons Elementary School stand on property once owned by the Howard family.
Bainbridge resident Marion Howard is a member of the Howard family by marriage. She spoke about the pioneering Howard family recently at the Bainbridge Historical Society.
Mrs. Howard, who was a member of the Taylor and Yaxley families, also early residents of Bainbridge, married Vernon Howard in 1943. Her late husband's family connection to Bainbridge started in the early 1800s.
"His ancestor William Howard walked to Bainbridge in 1818 from Massachusetts," she said. "He stayed here three years and walked back to his family's home in Massachusetts in 1821."
While he was there, he married and his father died as well, she said.
He brought his wife, Josephine, his mother and other family members back to Bainbridge in an ox cart in 1821.
Before he went back to New England, he had bought 640 acres in Bainbridge. When he returned, he cut several trees in a row and knocked the line of trees down with another tree, announcing he had returned, Mrs. Howard said.
The Howard farmland was located around Snyder and Bainbridge roads, and along the west side of Snyder Road, she said. The original barn still stands on the south side of Bainbridge Road.
"When Vernon and I married, I was living with my parents, Virgil and Caroline Taylor. We had a 180-acre farm on Snyder Road. My mother's parents, Francis and Daisy Yaxley, owned the farm at the corner of Crackel and Snyder roads in the township.
"Vernon and I built a house on the property," she said. She still lives in the house. Mr. Howard died in 2001.
He and his brother Claude Howard ran the Howard farm, selling apples, potatoes, peaches and maple sap, until the school district started buying up property, she said.
Claude Howard later moved to Florida, and Vernon and Marion Howard who had moved to Medina to farm returned to Bainbridge. "We came back to Bainbridge and started farming and we had an apple orchard," she said.
In 1955, Kenston School District sought to buy the first 20 acres of their farm when Bainbridge and Auburn merged into one district. In 1970, the district bought 40 acres of the Howard farm on East Washington Street, where the Timmons Elementary School was built.
It took in the Howard's woods and sugarhouse, Mrs. Howard said. In 2000, the school district bought 60 acres on the north side of Bainbridge Road for the new high school. The land surrounds the Howard farmhouse which still stands.
The school purchased most of the farm except on the south side. "We thought it would have to go someday, so it was better than houses," Mrs. Howard said.
The Howards were deeply involved with the Great Geauga County Fair. Mr. Howard was an original member of the Great Geauga County Fair band in 1938. Mrs. Howard also played in the band.
When Mr. Howard was on the Geauga County fair board, he volunteered on many projects and was instrumental in getting the band pavilion built on the fairgrounds, and it is named after him. Mrs. Howard is still a member of the fair auxiliary and the fair band.
Mrs. Howard and her husband were inducted into the Ohio Fair Managers Hall of Fame last winter. They were also inducted to the Geauga County Maple Syrup Hall of Fame in the 1960s.
While there are no Howard family members farming now, they have a close connection to the land. Paul Harris runs the remaining Howard farmland. "His father worked for us in the 1960s, and lived in the back of our house," Mrs. Howard said. "Paul grew up there. Vernon taught him all about farming, and Paul went on to Ohio State, studying dairy science.
"Paul farms the 32 acres that remain of the Howard property," Mrs. Howard said. His cows are the last in Bainbridge," she said. Mr. Harris is also deeply involved with the Great Geauga County Fair.
When the school district was buying the Howard land, a suggestion was made to dedicate a plaque to the Howard family. It is at the west entrance of the high school, and each spring, Mrs. Howard plants flowers around it.
The plaque stands as a reminder of the Howard family's connection to Bainbridge and with the land where the school buildings now stand.
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