Schools of Erie Twp., Miami County

There were five schools in Erie Twp. until 1917, at which time the consolidated school was built. Log schools were built, replaced with frame buildings, then brick buildings. The five schools were: Cattin, Marken, California, Long Island, and Pikes Peak.
There were four classrooms in the consolidated school at Erie. The school has a full basement divided into two restrooms, a domestic science room, and a manual training room.
The Cattin school was the first school house made of bricks. Ulysses Cattin donated one-half acre for the school. The first schoolhouse, built on the Cattin farm in 1850, was of hewn-logs. The next schoolhouse built of brick was one-half mile to the northwest of the log cabin schoolhouse. It was built somewhere between 1878 and 1887. The schoolroom was heated with a large round stove. They secured water from an old wooden pump. After many years of use it was broken- so the children had to carry water from a nearby house. The teachers of the first schools were only paid $25. a year. Some of that paid in coonskins and grain. They had to carry the wood, build fires, and do the sweeping. Much different from today wouldn't you say?