Upper Rothsville School 1240 East Newport Road

Upper_Rothsville
Photo from ca 1900. Courtesy of private collection

In Deed Book M, Volume 13, page 493 can be found the first transfer of property for this school to the Warwick Township School District. On September 28, 1852 Christian Hess, Sr., for a sum of $15.47, sold 27 ½ perches on a public road leading from Furnace Mountain to Rothsville. In this deed is the stipulation that when the school is no longer needed, the heirs or whoever owns the property of which this is a part, has the first chance to purchase it. This is just a small parcel of land, and on March 23, 1882 in Deed Book P, Volume 13, page 571 is found the purchase of an additional 21 perches by the Warwick School Board from Joseph and Elizabeth Hess for the price of $52.50. In outlining the property boundaries, reference is made to a small graveyard. There is a stipulation in this deed that the property is to be used for school purposes only, and then to revert to the owners of the farm at the time of selling, or if refused at the stated price, it is to be sold to the highest bidder.

What happened to the property is found is a reference made to it in Deed Book N, Volume 22, page 20 when the property is sold by Lancaster County Sheriff, Milton Eby, to Alvin W. Mentzer. This deed was recorded on December 11, 1913. It is described as Purpart No. 3 (48 ½ perches) being the same premises that the School District of Warwick Township by their deed dated February 21, 1913 “here produced and intended to be recorded” conveyed to Samuel S. Shober. Also included is the notation that a suit was filed against Samuel S. Shober in the Court of Common Pleas by Alvin W. Mentzer in the November Term of 1915,Number 91.

The next two deeds shows that these 48 ½ perches of land (the second of two tracts of land) are sold to Henry Walter in 1917 and then in 1918 Dr. Henry Walter and his wife Catherine sold two tracts of land (tract 1 being 48 ½ perches) to Ralph B. Hess.

In 2010 as you pass by Jim’s Garage, you are passing the site of the Upper Rothsville School. The school building had been empty from when it closed until it was used to house crews of Italian road builders. While being used as a dormitory, it caught fire and burned.

 

Table of Contents