Kent Union School District
A “new” Central Elementary School was built in phases, with phase one opening in January 1953 and phase two, which included a gymnasium and overlapped the old Central School site, opening in 1954. This served K-8 students until 1959 and was the home of K-6 students from the northwest part of Kent until 2000.
For more history of the Kent City School District, click here.
The school organization dates all the way back to 1867 when the new Kent Union School District, which formed around 1860, decided to consolidate and centralize all the schoolhouses and separate students by grade levels. After some delays, the new “Union School” opened in March 1869, (Kent High School had already opened in September 1868 and was temporarily housed in the Franklin Township Hall) and it included students from grades 1 through 12.
Later, after the construction of additional elementary schools (South School and DePeyster School), the school and its building became known as Central School. The original Central School included Kent High School until 1922 and served as a junior high and neighborhood elementary school until 1952.