West Chester and Liberty townships are served by the Lakota Local School District.
Lakota is the 10th largest school district in Ohio and the largest of all 10 public school districts in Butler County, with current enrollment of nearly 17,000 students across 23 schools.
Our community’s first school took the form of a log cabin built around 1806. At a time before public education was officially organized, people living here understood the value and importance of proper schooling. Citizens pooled their resources – land, labor, materials, and monies for a teacher’s salary – to build and operate the log cabin school on farmland initially acquired from John Cleves Symmes in 1797. The site of the first school was along what’s today the east side of Cincinnati-Dayton Road, not far from the intersection of Allen Road.
Soon after Union Township was established June 2, 1823, in a split from Liberty Township, residents elected school directors in charge of establishing a network of schools. Our community was divided into nine numbered school districts. The districts were spread out geographically to serve families living and working throughout the Township’s bustling villages.
District No. 1 - Pisgah (near what’s today Fire Station 72 on John Road)
District No. 2 - White Section (east end of Tylersville Road)
District No. 3 - West Chester (sometimes referred to as Station Road School)
District No. 4 - Tylersville (near the Lesourdsville West Chester Road intersection)
District No. 5 - Port Union (near the intersection of Princeton Glendale Road and Rialto Road)
District No. 6 - 18-Mile Corner (northwest end of Tylersville Road)
District No. 7 - Wakefield (on Cincinnati-Dayton Road near Allen Road)
District No. 8 - Maud (near the intersection of 2nd Street and Tylersville Road)
District No. 9 - Rialto (near the intersection of Rialto, West Chester and Beckett roads)
Each district had its own schoolhouse and teachers to educate children through 8th grade. Well into the 20th century, students who wished to attend grades 9-12 traveled and enrolled in a high school in a neighboring community, like the City of Hamilton or Lockland.
Beginning in 1916, the Union Township Centralized School was built in the heart of the community, along what’s today the west side of Cincinnati Dayton Road just south of Cresthaven Avenue. The nine districts were consolidated into this one building, which was ready to welcome students in 12 grades on the first day of class September 4, 1917.
About four decades later, another consolidation occurred July 5, 1957 when voters in Union Township and Liberty Township approved a bond issue to build a new high school that would accommodate students of both townships. Lakota High School opened September 8, 1959 in a then-brand-new building on Tylersville Road, about half a mile east of the Princeton Glendale Road (State Route 747) intersection where Lakota West freshman and Creekside are now.
The “Lakota” name is the product of a 1950s “Name the School” contest, won by fifth grader Mary Mitzel of Liberty Township. The Native American word is said to mean “allies” or “joining of friends” in English. Thus began a tradition of using Native American names for many of the schools; however, it was not until 1970 that the Liberty-Union School District would be officially renamed the Lakota School District.
Between 1970 and 1990, our area experienced a population increase of more than 200 percent. Likewise, school enrollment shot up with the growth of the community.
To keep up, Lakota essentially split its upper secondary enrollment in half in the late 1990s, building two identical $26 million, 247,000 square foot high schools – Lakota West High School in Union Township and Lakota East High School in Liberty Township – accommodating about 2,500 students each. The Lakota Thunderbird mascot was split as well, forming the Thunderhawks (LEHS) and Firebirds (LWHS). Opening ceremonies were celebrated Sunday, Sept. 14, 1997 before the first day of class.
For more information about Lakota Schools, visit www.lakotaonline.com.
Fun Facts
The public school system was established in 1853 with the passage of the Ohio School Law, which collects and distributes property tax money to school districts by student enrollment numbers. Today’s current system is based upon this law.
The first log cabin school was built and burned down twice in the 1800s. When public schools were ultimately established, student transportation was initially offered in the form of horse-drawn buses.
West Chester School (also referred to as Station Road School) was built in 1875 and rebuilt in 1900 after a fire. The two-room brick schoolhouse is today home to the West Chester History Center thanks to the committed, hardworking members of the West Chester ~ Union Township Historical Society, who acquired the property from the Board of Trustees in 2019 for $1.00.
The Wakefield School was built in 1878, not far from where the first log cabin schools were built. This privately-owned structure still stands today and, it’s said, the cement sidewalk that leads to the front door is original.
Hazel Eiler, Mildred Jones and Rolla Carter made up the first class to graduate from Union Township High School in spring 1919. A total of 40 graduating classes with about 775 students earned their diplomas from 1919-1959.
Despite consolidation in 1917, schools in Port Union (until 1942) and Pisgah (until 1945) chose to keep their doors open and maintained eight-grade schools for another few decades.
In 1926, Union Township received inheritance tax money from the estate of E.W. Scripps. About $80,000 to help build Union Township Hall, located just 75 feet south of Union Township School on Cincinnati-Dayton Road. From the start, most of Union Township Hall was designed to be rented out to the fast-growing school district but by 1953, the school community needed more space so Trustees sold all of its property to the Board of Education for expansion of the facilities at the sale price of $1.00.
Around 1957, the Union Township Centralized School was reduced from 12 grades to eight, and the building became known as Union Elementary. After about 100 years as a school, the building was demolished in 2016 to make way for the brand new Boys & Girls Club of West Chester / Liberty, which opened January 4, 2018 at 8749 Cincinnati-Dayton Road on the same original site.
Reach Out Lakota, a private non-profit service agency considered the community’s first organized food and clothing pantry, was formed November 18, 1992 by Sharon McGuire to support Lakota Local Schools families struggling to provide basic needs.
Lakota Local Schools student Emily Weber created the RASKALS (Random Acts of Simple Kindness Affecting Local Seniors) volunteer service project starting November 1, 1996. The program continues to serve senior citizens at their homes this day.
The former Lakota High School building was repurposed in 1997 for a separate, dedicated Freshman School where about 1,000 students attended first-year classes before moving on to Lakota East or Lakota West. In 2008, a new Lakota East Freshman School opened in Liberty Township and this property became Lakota West Freshman School.
The first-ever varsity football game between the Lakota East Thunderhawks and Lakota West Firebirds was not played until September 18, 1998, in the programs’ second respective seasons. The location was moved to the now-defunct Galbreath Field in neighboring Warren County to accommodate a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators. Lakota East defeated Lakota West 15-8.
“Foundations” is a series of stories recounting momentous occasions in West Chester, Ohio history. Subscribe to the COMMUNITY REPORT e-newsletter and visit www.WestChesterOH.org/200 to learn more about Township history as we celebrate our 200th birthday bicentennial anniversary.