herr2ck: First Of Its Kind

January 2026.

Columbus, Ohio holds the distinction of establishing the first ever junior high school (middle school) in the entire United States. This school was the Indianola Junior High School, located in the University District. Although it has since closed, the original building and its successor still stand. This post focuses on the second location, which is in use by the Metro Early College High School (MECHS).

MECHS is located at 420 East 19th Avenue in the University District neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by 20th Avenue and Indianola Middle School Park to the north, 19th Avenue and a strip mall to the south, the railroad tracks to the east, and an alley to the west. It was built on the site of Indianola Park.

History

The building that this article focuses on is the second Indianola Junior High School. The first is located in Frat Row closer to campus and also still stands, and it is in use as the Graham Elementary and Middle School today. I cover it in a separate post and will solely focus on the 1929 building’s history, but I’ll write a quick summary first:

After the school district began to notice a high dropout rate after 8th grade, as students typically stopped going to school and began to work, it was decided to start a new school that would help retain students. Superintendent J. A. Shawan and Ohio State president William Oxley Thompson came up with a curriculum for the school, and it was named the Indianola Junior High School. It opened in 1909 and was located at 16th Avenue, but was overcrowded within 20 years.

1929 photo of the newly built Indianola Junior High School. (All Columbus Data)

The present Indianola Junior High School building was designed by Howard Dwight Smith, either immediately prior to becoming Ohio State’s university architect or shortly afterwards. It was completed in 1929. It’s hard to nail down a specific style and the NRHP listing simply says “modernistic,” but it has a wide variety of formal and decorative cues that point to several different styles, such as Art Deco, Beaux-Arts, and Jacobethan Revival. I’ll just call it eclectic in style. The building’s sculptures were carved by Erwin Frey, best known for his statue of William Oxley Thompson outside Thompson Library.

Since the school was built on land that used to be a part of Indianola Park, the former picnic grounds became the school’s play area. The old trees and ravine were preserved, some of which stand today.

The building in 1980. (NRHP listing)

The second Indianola Junior High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, as well as the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1984. According to Columbus Metropolitan Library, the school closed in 2010, and Google Maps shows a large chain-link fence being built outside between 2017 and 2020.

After sitting vacant for a while, there was an early attempt to renovate the school for a French and Spanish immersion school, which fell through. Later, the Board of Education agreed to sell the former middle school to Ohio State in 2017, but it was delayed, not being finalized until 2018. Metro Schools commissioned Moody Nolan and Perkins & Will to renovate the interior, which began in 2023, and the building reopened sometime in 2025. These renovations are contemporary in character.

Photos

MECHS is pretty tucked away, despite being right next to a major street. Given that 19th dead-ends immediately eastward, the area isn’t well-trafficked.

The principal facade of the building post-renovation:

Like I mentioned earlier, it’s difficult to put this building under one stylistic umbrella. The form overall and some of the ornamentation is sort of Jacobethan/Tudor Revival, but other ornamental details and the parapet are more clearly Art Deco.

You can see the geometric stepping of the parapet better here as well, along with a stone balconette and two shield decorations:

The fenestration is simple and Modernistic, with rectangular windows separated by a brightly colored spandrel:

Detail of the spandrels, which have little natural terra-cotta patterns:

Of course buckeyes are represented, but other species include oak and maple.

The main entrance portal:

I FINALLY get to use this word--centered above the door is a swag with a giant bucranium in the middle, a decorative element from classical architecture that takes the form of a bull or cow’s head. However, the stone tablets embedded in the vaulting are Art Deco or even Arts & Crafts in style.

This area projects from the flat wall plane a bit:

I thought this stone tablet was modern, but it is actually part of the original construction:

A Native American chief stands watch over this part of the building. While it is a cool design, it is unfortunate that we colonized Native American land and then reduced them to exotic architectural decorations.

The roof appears to be the original slate as well. The chief depicted is Mingo chief Tahgahjute, also known as Chief Logan, whose family was murdered by white settlers.

The entire school complex from the southeast:

I thought the portion to the east would be an addition based on its simpler expression and interruption of the main building’s mass, but the part that matches its height is original. The lower-slung portion at far right is actually an addition and must have been built after 1961, as it does not appear on the Sanborn map from that year.

According to that same Sanborn map, the taller portion housed a balcony, stage, and combined auditorium/gymnasium.

The main school area from here:

The school’s chimney is rather simple, but it still carries over the shield motifs:

After this, I walked up the alley to get pictures of the west facade. I noticed that the building is actually U-shaped, and there is a large courtyard here: