Indian Hill Historical Society
8100 Given Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45243

"Keeping Indian Hill's past and present alive for tomorrow"

The Little Red Schoolhouse

   By a deed dated September 2, 1873, Josephine and Ambrose Buckingham of Woodford County, Illinois, conveyed the real estate for the Washington Heights School to A. J. Buckingham, L.Y. Miller, Wilson Short, and William Ferguson, as the Township Board of Education of the Township of Symmes, County of Hamilton, State of Ohio, for a consideration of $340.00. Later it became known as the Washington School and then as "The Little Red Schoolhouse."
   Named for George Washington, the one-room schoolhouse had 54 students entered in 1874. The teacher was Charles Earhart, who taught all the grades. The children sat at long benches and tables, and the room was warmed by a pot-bellied stove, and later by a coal furnace.
   Some of the other teachers who taught at the school were: Ruth Buckingham, Anna Brown, Gertrude Schweitzer, Alice Turner, Charles Burns, and Elsa Curless.
   Some of the families that attended the school were: Deek, Dennewitz, Hartmann, Bonnell, Grob, Turner, Beatley, Rebun, Lodewick, Brown, and Marvin.
   The structure itself is made of local brick, probably from Madeira. It has a belfry, double doors and a vestibule. The interior has a wooden floor, walls of wainscoting and plaster, and a large expanse of blackboard. The building served as a school for the community for sixty-one years and was closed in 1940.
   The Little Red Schoolhouse also served as the administrative office of the incorporated Village of Indian Hill (1941-1956) and as the home of the Board of Education (1961-1972) until each of those offices moved into their present quarters.
   On October 14, 1949, the Board of Education of Indian Hill, by deed, conveyed this real estate to the Village of Indian Hill for a cash consideration of $7,500.00.
   Concerned for the future of the school, the Village Council in 1973 invited Tyler Lewis Emerson (Mrs. Truxtun) to form a committee to find a use for the building. The result was the formation of The Indian Hill Historical Museum Association, now known as the Indian Hill Historical Society. Restoration was started in 1974 and completed in 1975.
   The Little Red Schoolhouse was entered into the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service, United States Department of Interior, in August, 1975.

Rent these buildings for parties or meetings!

The Bonnell House
(Buckingham Lodge)

   This Civil War-period house, which pre-dated the construction of Camargo Road, was situated on 180 acres of land purchased in 1832 by Aaron Bonnell. The Bonnells, related to the Buckingham family, played a significant role in the nineteenth-century development of Indian Hill. The house is a fine example of transitional Greek Revival-to-Italianate style architecture popular in America in the mid-1800's.
   The house, known as Buckingham Lodge, and 13.83 acres of land, Bonnell Park, were transferred to the Village of Indian Hill by Lola Bonnell on March 25, 1968. Renovated in 1989 by the Indian Hill Historical Society, the building now contains the Society's office, library and archives.

   Both the Little Red Schoolhouse and Buckingham Lodge are owned by the Village of Indian Hill and leased by the Indian Hill Historical Society for member functions. Membership in the Indian Hill Historical Society is required for rentals.