Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1977. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The Thomas Select School is a historic log building in rural Butler County, Ohio, United States. Constructed in 1810, the building has seen numerous uses, ranging from church to school to house.”
Wikipedia article Thomas Select School, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 63 National Register listings in Butler County · listed in 1977 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Butler County.
National Register reference number.77001046- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Morgan township was originally a part of Ross township, and was created March 4, 18 1 1. It lies in the southwest corner of the county and borders on the Indiana line. The surface of the township is partly undulating, but the greater portion of it is rough. Along the principal streams bottoms extend on either side from one-quarter to one mile in width. The uplands are not so productive as the valleys, but the soil is generally favorable to agricultural pursuits. In the region of Shandon is an extensive valley that is famous for its fertility and productiveness. Dry Fork, of Whitewater, Howard's creek and Paddy's run are the principal water-courses. The former is the longest as well as the largest stream, and has for its tributaries on the east Buck run and Kiatta creek.
Bebb, was the first settler to enter land in Morgan township. It was the half of section 27. The first store keeper was William D. Jones, a Welshman, who conducted a bartering stand for a time on Paddy's run, near the present site of Shandon. James Nicholas was the first blacksmith, as well as the first miller in the neighborhood of Paddy's run.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 133 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Thomas Select School between 1883 and
1975: 97 Animalia, 28 Plantae, 6 Fungi, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. R. Gaufin, A.R. Gaufin, H.H. Ross, Arden R. Gaufin and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
7 workings within 5 miles of Thomas Select School: 4 past producers, 3 producers.
3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Shandon, the town this property stands in, in 1 storm report between 2000 and 2000: 1 thunderstorm wind.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
1,529 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
Ohio prior to 1825. adjacent to the chimney which leads to a full cellar. UNEXPOSED CONDITION RUINS DESCRIPTION EXCELLENT FAIR XALTERED that a cabin of this date had a center stairway, so this is among the interior The north and south elevations which are identical are three bays wide. Doors has written extensively about Ohio log buildings. and that there had been a mortised-in porch across the front.At one time it CHECK ONE The interior arrangement of the first floor has a center staircase with two - UNALTERED were pointed outby Don Hutslar of the Ohio Historical Society.Mr.Hutslar These are joined by steeple notching, a type of log construction popular in the overall dimensions are 29' x 18'.
The gable roof is covered with asbestos alterations.There is evidence that the first floor windows have been raised the second floor.The east and west ends have no openings except for a door first floor and two windows (placed directly above the lst story windows) on large rooms on either side.The second floor has the same arrangement but DATE. AREAS OF
Statement of significance
The building is significant as an early, although altered, Ohio log structure. It is not known if the structure was originally built as a school, but by 1820, it housed the Thomas Select School, a private boarding school where students 1500-1599 1600-1699 LAW RELIGION ENGINEERING ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC INVENTION SCIENCE ART BUILDER/ARCHITECT ECONOMICS PREHISTORIC MILITARY SIGNIFICANCE SCULPTURE ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC PERIOD AGRICULTURE THEATER XARCHITECTURE TRANSPORTATION LITERATURE INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _CONSERVATION used asa summer residence. X.EDUCATION of the congregation to Josephine Robinson.It remained with the Robinson England immigrated to this country and was appointed co-pastor of the church.Under was established on a different site.
to be taught plain and ornamental sewing. The building continued to function as a school and manse for a number of years. -1400-1499 -PHILOSOPHY The school was operated by the Whitewater Congregational Church, later known as It has further significance as a very early southwest Ohio school. family until 1947 when it was purchased by the present owner.It is presently well as in private dwellings until 1823 when a new meeting house for the church -1700-1799 In 1885 the school and approximately 2 acres of land were sold by the trustees _COMMERCE -1900- were taught grammar, math and science. Local girls also went to the school his leadership and scholarship the school achieved wide acceptance and high when he became full pastor.
Church services were sometimes held in the school as the Paddy's Run Congregational Church.In 1820 the Reverend Thomas Thomas from scholastic standards.The building was also used by Reverend Thomas as his Manse 9
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 77001046, 13 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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