In the spring of 1895, this Dayton school was only a few years old. Dayton had gone without a school building for a year when the old school burned in November1892 and this building filled a definite need. It became the center of Dayton life, although, as shown here, that was not to everyone’s liking.

A Dayton correspondent sends us a complaint about the economical methods adopted by some of its citizens. He says they are making use of the public school building for a dancing hall and club room. He says the young men are backed up by the directors and others. The same building is used for an opera house, and that the directors and their families get free tickets for the dances and shows, but that they and their families are not very largely represented when the school is used on Sunday for Sabbath School. The correspondent is a tax payer, he claims, and does not get in under the canvas.¹

1. Ottawa Republican, March 21, 1895, p. 3,