History of the Niles City Schools Administration Buildings

School Administration Building. S11.118 Purchase of School Administration Building.	History of the Niles City Schools Administration Buildings. This building was originally the office of the Thomas Furnace Company. It was erected in 1892 by the late J.R. Thomas. The Thomas Furnace Company was composed of J.R. Thomas and his sons, John M. Thomas, T.E. Thomas, and the Honorable W. Aubrey Thomas, former member of Congress. This company was engaged in the manufacture of pig iron and continued until 1899 when they sold out to the National Steel Corporation which was later absorbed by United Steel Corporation. The building and site was then purchased by the Erie Railroad. The 1.5 acre lot and building later were sold to the Niles City Schools in 1930 for $3500.00. The Erie RR had been offered more by a person who wanted to build a fruit stand in the building, but appealing to their civic spirit they were persuaded to sell the building for a school administration building and the grounds to be a civic beauty spot. The chemical laboratory building was moved and made an annex to the Erie building.

The old Jackson School on Warren Avenue became the next Administration Building in 1967-68 replacing the previous Administration Building on Church Street. (The old Jackson School Building is still standing, see photo above).	P01.1914	S03.77 The old Administration Building burned down when juveniles set fire to it on January 29, 1972 (see photos left, below, and above).

S02.74	S03.76	S03.75

Four views of Administration location, 2020 The site is now only trees and the pavement is remnants of the old Church Street entrance to Robbins Avenue (see photos on right).

	The area where the Administration Building(1930-1967) was located underwent major changes during the construction of the Erie RR grade elimination in 1953. Church Street no longer connected with Robbins Avenue and State Street continued north until intersecting with the new extension of Robbins Avenue which now connected with North Main Street. R) Location of Administration Building, 1930-1970.

	In the 1990s, the offices were moved to the building on West Street by the Mosquito Creek (below Macali’s Giant Eagle) which had been the offices for the Bucci Brothers, and in 1976 it was the Ohio Compensation Claims building which handled all Blue Cross payments for the unions there.

	When Niles voters approved a bond issue to finance a new high school and two new elementary schools in 2011, the School Board purchased the Mount Carmel School building and land on North Rhodes Avenue for the Niles City Schools Administration Facilities.