Southington Township Centralized School and Monument Park

Southington Township Centralized School and Monument Park. . Side A , Southington native Newton Chalker built, furnished, and donated Chalker High School to his community in 1907. Chalker was born in 1842 in Southington Township and lived there until adulthood. He later built a prosperous law and real estate practice in Akron. Chalker's dedication to improve educational opportunities in the township likely originated with his personal struggle to complete high school, which was repeatedly interrupted by financial concerns and family obligations. The Chalker High School building was designed in the Neo-Classical Revival architectural style which was favored for public buildings, churches and schools early in the twentieth century. The building exhibits Classical influences through the use of fluted columns that support a pedimented gable, resembling a Greek temple. Chalker High School and the Civil War Monument were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. (Continue on other side) , , Side B , (Continued from other side) Newton Chalker offered to provide the high school and community library to Southington Township in 1905, on the condition that Southington's residents voted to consolidate the township's one-room district schoolhouses and build a new elementary school in a central location. The centralization of rural schools reflected a state-wide trend accomplished by most Trumbull County townships late in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Southington Township Centralized School campus was completed in 1907, originally consisting of the Chalker High School building and a modest two story brick elementary school. Chalker was a Civil War veteran who honored his fellow soldiers by adding the Civil War Monument between the school buildings and christening the grounds upon which it stands as Monument Park in 1910. Southington Township School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012