GENERAL INFO
Please respect the property of the school next door. It is owned by a lovely family who lives there. Please do not venture onto their property. If this becomes a problem, the cache will have to be removed. The cemetery property and the small white church is fair game. However, if any issues arise on this property, the cache will be removed immediately. Please make this an enjoyable location for all and enjoy this historical gem!
If you find yourself here during your travels, please note that the nearest food, lodging, shopping, and gas stations (as well as public restrooms) are about 7.5 miles away in Wooster, around 15 minutes drive. There is a small carry-out restaurant in Lattasburg that operates out of a small general store as well less than three miles away.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Sometime between 1815 and 1830, a group of Mennonites settled in the center of Chester Township, now in Northwestern School District. They built a log cabin to serve as a church, school, and meeting house for the township.
In 1844, an octagonal schoolhouse was built, also used for town meetings. The log cabin was still used as a church until a new church was built in 1873. That old log cabin was later moved to Bates Rd and used as part of Chester Township Garage.
In 1873, a Mennonite church was built and named Eight Square Mennonite Church after the schoolhouse next door. You can still see the Eight Square Mennonite Church on the property. It has been out of use since 1956, but owned by the same congregation that has a new church just down the road.
The octagon-shaped schoolhouse was torn down in 1883 and no known photos or sketches survive of it. However, the church and surrounding community was still known as Eight Square.
Chester Township School was built in 1922 and remained in use until 2005 when Northwestern LSD built new campuses. Now, what used to be a thriving Mennonite community is now the ominous resting place of an abandoned church and school surrounded by a cemetery. I think it's a gem hidden in plain sight for anyone remotely interested in the history of Wayne County, OH.
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Information made possible by an essay by then-Central Christian highschooler Bob Witmer in 1973, essay preserved and disclosed by the Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College, Goshen, IN.